HISTORIC  HIGHWAYS  OF  AMERICA 

VOLUME  11 


U 


SI 


HISTORIC  HIGHWAYS  OF  AMERICA 

VOLUME    11 


Pioneer  Roads  and 
Experiences  of  Travelers 

(Volume  I) 


BY 


ARCHER  BUTLER  HULBERT 


With  Illustrations 


THE  ARTHUR  H.  CLARK  COMPANY 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO 

1904 


- 


COPYRIGHT,    1904 
BY 

THE  ARTHUR  H.  CLARK  COMPANY 

ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE .11 

I.     THE  EVOLUTION  OF  HIGHWAYS  :  FROM 

INDIAN  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE          .       15 

II.     A  PILGRIM    ON    THE    PENNSYLVANIA 

ROAD 106 

III.  ZANE'S  TRACE  AND  THE  MAYSVILLE 

PIKE    .         .         .         .         .         -151 

IV.  PIONEER  TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY          .      175 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

I.     A  MILESTONE  ON  BRADDOCK'S   ROAD 

Frontispiece 

II.  INDIAN  TRAVAIL  .  .  .  -19 
III.  OLD  CONESTOGA  FREIGHTER  .  .  50 
IV.  EARLIEST  STYLE  OF  LOG  TAVERN  .  87 

V.     WIDOW  MCMURRAN'S  TAVERN  (Scrub 

Ridge,  Pennsylvania  Road)  .   134 

VI.  BRIDGE  ON  WHICH  ZANE'S  TRACE 
CROSSED  THE  MUSKINGUM  RIVER 
AT  ZANESVILLE,  OHIO  .  .  .  162 

VII.     PIONEER  VIEW  OF  HOUSES  AT  FORT 

CUMBERLAND,  MARYLAND       .         .    191 


PREFACE 

9"  |^HE  first  chapter  of  this  volume  pre- 
X.  sents  an  introduction  to  the  two 
volumes  of  this  series  devoted  to 
Pioneer  Roads  and  Experiences  of  Travel 
ers.  The  evolution  of  American  highways 
from  Indian  trail  to  macadamized  road  is 
described;  the  Lancaster  Turnpike,  the 
first  macadamized  road  in  the  United  States, 
being  taken  as  typical  of  roads  of  the  lat 
ter  sort. 

An  experience  of  a  noted  traveler, 
Francis  Baily,  the  eminent  British  astrono 
mer,  is  presented  in  chapter  two. 

The  third  chapter  is  devoted  to  the 
story  of  Zane's  Trace  from  Virginia  to 
Kentucky  across  Ohio,  and  its  terminal, 
the  famous  Maysville  Pike.  It  was  this 
highway  which  precipitated  President  Jack 
son's  veto  of  the  Internal  Improvement 
Bill  of  1830,  one  of  the  epoch-making 
vetoes  in  our  economic  history. 


12  PREFACE 

The  last  chapter  is  the  vivid  picture  of 
Kentucky  travel  drawn  by  Judge  James 
Hall  in  his  description  of  l<  The  Emi 
grants,"  in  Legends  of  the  West. 

The  illustrations  in  this  volume  have 
been  selected  to  show  styles  of  pioneer 
architecture  and  means  of  locomotion, 
including  types  of  earliest  taverns,  bridges, 
and  vehicles. 

A.  B.  H. 

MARIETTA,  OHIO,  December  30,  1903. 


Pioneer  Roads  and 
Experiences  of  Travelers 

(Volume  I) 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    EVOLUTION    OF    HIGHWAYS:    FROM    IN 
DIAN   TRAIL  TO   TURNPIKE 

WE  have  considered  in  this  series  of 
monographs  the  opening  of  a  num 
ber  of  Historic  Roads  and  the  part 
they  played  in  the  development  of  the 
most  important  phases  of  early  American 
history.  But  our  attitude  has  been  that 
of  one  asking,  Why?  —  we  have  not  at 
proper  length  considered  all  that  would  be 
contained  in  the  question,  How?  It  will 
be  greatly  to  our  purpose  now  to  inquire 
into  the  methods  of  road-making,  and  out 
line,  briefly,  the  evolution  of  the  first  trod 
den  paths  to  the  great  highways  of  civiliza 
tion. 

From  one  aspect,  and  an  instructive  one, 
the  question  is  one  of  width ;  few,  if  any, 
of  our  roads  are  longer  than  those  old 
"  threads  of  soil  "  —  as  Holland  called  the 
Indian  trails;  Braddock's  Road  was  not 


16  PIONEER  ROADS 

longer  than  the  trail  he  followed ;  even  the 
Cumberland  Road  could  probably  have 
been  followed  its  entire  length  by  a  parallel 
Indian  path  or  a  buffalo  trace.  But  Brad- 
dock's  Road  was,  in  its  day,  a  huge,  broad 
track,  twelve  feet  wide;  and  the  Cumber 
land  Road  exceeded  it  in  breadth  nearly 
fifty  feet.  So  our  study  may  be  pursued 
from  the  interesting  standpoint  of.  a  widen 
ing  vista ;  the  belt  of  blue  above  our  heads 
grows  broader  as  we  study  the  widening 
of  the  trail  of  the  Indian. 

To  one  who  has  not  followed  the  trails 
of  the  West  or  the  Northland,  the  experi 
ence  is  always  delightful.  It  is  much  the 
same  delight  as  that  felt  in  traversing  a 
winding  woodland  road,  intensified  many 
fold.  The  incessant  change  of  scenery,  the 
continued  surprises,  the  objects  passed 
unseen  yet  not  unguessed,  those  half-seen 
through  a  leafy  vista  amid  the  shimmering 
green;  the  pathway  just  in  front  very 
plain,  but  twenty  feet  beyond  as  absolutely 
hidden  from  your  eyes  as  though  it  were  a 
thousand  miles  away  —  such  is  the  romance 
of  following  a  trail.  One's  mind  keeps  as 
active  as  when  looking  at  Niagara,  and  it 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  17 

is  lulled  by  the  lapsing  of  those  leaves  as 
if  by  the  roar  of  that  cataract. 

Yet  the  old  trail,  unlike  our  most  modern 
roads,  kept  to  the  high  ground;  even  in 
low  places  it  seemed  to  attempt  a  double- 
bow  knot  in  keeping  to  the  points  of 
highest  altitude./- But  when  once  on  the 
hills,  the  vista  presented  varied  only  with 
the  altitude,  save  where  hidden  by  the 
foliage.  We  do  not  choose  the  old  "  ridge 
roads  "  today  for  the  view  to  be  obtained, 
and  we  look  continually  up  while  the  old- 
time  traveler  so  often  looked  down.  As  we 
have  hinted,  elsewhere,  many  of  our 
pioneer  battles  —  those  old  battles  of  the 
trails  —  will  be  better  understood  when  the 
position  of  the  attacking  armies  is  under 
stood  to  have  been  on  lower  levels,  the 
rifles  shooting  upward,  the  enemy  often 
silhouetted  against  the  very  sky-line. 

But  the  one  characteristic  to  which, 
ordinarily,  there  was  no  exception,  was 
the  narrowness  of  these  ancient  routes. 
The  Indian  did  not  travel  in  single  file 
because  there  was  advantage  in  that  form 
ation  ;  it  was  because  his  only  routes  were 
trails  which  he  never  widened  or  improved ; 


18  PIONEER  ROADS 

and  these  would,  ordinarily,  admit  only 
of  one  such  person  as  broke  them  open. 
True,  the  Indians  did  have  broader  trails; 
but  they  were  very  local  in  character  and 
led  to  maple-sugar  orchards  or  salt  wells. 
From  such  points  to  the  Indian  villages 
there  ran  what  seemed  not  unlike  our 
' '  ribbon  roads  "  -  -  th^e  two  tracks  made  by 
the  "  %Mrf4$"  —  the  two  poles  with  cross 
bar  that  dragged  on  the  ground  behind  the 
Indian  ponies,  upon  which  a  little  freight 
could  be  loaded,  '  In  certain  instances  such 
roads  as  these  were  to  be  found  running  be 
tween  Indian  villages  and  between  villages 
and  hunting  grounds.  They  were  the  roads 
of  times  of  peace.  The  war-time  trails  were 
always  narrow  and  usually  hard  -  the  times 
of  peace  came  few  and  far  between.  As  we 
have  stated,  so  narrow  was  the  trail,  that 
the  traveler  was  drenched  with  water  from 
the  bushes  on  either  hand.  And  so 
' '  blind  "  —  to  use  a  common  pioneer  word 
—  were  trails  when  overgrown;  that  they 
were  difficult  to  find  and  more  difficult  to 
follow.  Though  an  individual  Indian  fre 
quently  marked  his  way  through  the  forest, 
for  the  benefit  of  others  who  were  to  follow 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  'TURNPIKE  21 

him  or  for  his  own  guidance  in  returning, 
the  Indian  trails  in  native  state  were 
never  blazed.  Thus,  very  narrow,  exceed 
ingly  crooked,  often  overgrown,  worn  a 
foot  or  more  into  the  ground,  lay  the 
routes  on  which  white  men  built  roads 
which  have  become  historic.  Let  us  note 
the  first  steps  toward  road-building,  chrono 
logically. 

/  The  first  phase  of  road-making  (if  it  be 
dignified  by  such  a  title)  was  the  broaden- 
.ing  of  the  Indian  path  by  the  mere  passing 
of  wider  loads  over  it.  The  beginning  of 
the  pack-horse  era  was  announced  by  the 
need  of  greater  quantities  of  merchandise 
and  provisions  in  the  West  to  which  these 
paths  led.  The  heavier  the  freight  tied 
on.  either  side  of  the  pack-horse,  the  more 
were  the  bushes  bruised  and  worn  away, 
and  the  more  the  bed  of  the  trail  was 
tracked  and  trampled.  The  increasing  of 
the  fdr-trade  with  the  East  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  necessitated  heavier  loads  for  the 
trading  ponies  both  -' '  going  in  ' '  and ' '  com 
ing  out  "  —  as  the  pioneers  were  wont  to 
say.  Up  to  this  time,  so  far  as  the  present 


22  PIONEER  ROADS 

writer's  knowledge  goes,  the  Indian  never 
lifted  a  finger  to  make  his  paths  better  in 
any  one  respect;  it  seems  probable  that, 
oftentimes,  when  a  stream  was  to  be 
crossed,  which  could  not  be  forded,  the 
Indian  bent  his  steps  to  the  first  fallen 
tree  whose  trunk  made  a  natural  bridge 
across  the  water.  That  an  Indian  never 
felled  such  a  tree,  it  is  impossible  to  say; 
but  no  such  incident  has  come  within  my 
reading.  It  seems  that  this  must  have 
happened  and  perhaps  was  of  frequent 
occurrence. 

Our  first  picture,  then,  of  a  ''blind'' 
trail  is  succeeded  by  one  of  a  trail  made 
rougher  and  a  little  wider  merely  by  use ; 
a  trail  over  which  perhaps  the  agents  of  a 
Croghan  or  a  Gist  pushed  westward  with 
more  and  more  heavily-loaded  pack-horses 
than  had  been  customarily  seen  on  the 
trails  thither.  Of  course  such  trails  as 
began  now  to  have  some  appearance  of 
roads  were  very  few.  As  was  true  of  the 
local  paths  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecti 
cut  and  Virginia,  so  of  the  long  trails  into 
the  interior  of  the  continent,  very  few 
answered  all  purposes.  Probably  by  1750 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  23 

three  routes,  running  through  southwestern 
Pennsylvania,  central  Pennsylvania,  and 
central  New  York,  were  worn  deep  and 
broad.  By  broad  of  course  we  mean  that, 
in  many  places,  pack-horses  could  meet 
and  pass  without  serious  danger  to  their 
loads.  But  there  were,  probably,  only 
these  three  which  at  this  time  answered 
this  description.  And  the  wider  and  the 
harder  they  became,  the  narrower  and 
the  softer  grew  scores  of  lesser  trails  which 
heretofore  had  been  somewhat  traversed. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  we  find  the  daring 
missionary  Zeisberger  going  to  the  Alle 
gheny  River  like  a  beast  on  all  fours 
through  overgrown  trails,  or  that  Washing 
ton,  floundering  in  the  fall  of  1784  along 
the  upper  Monongahela  and  Cheat  Rivers, 
was  compelled  to  give  up  returning  to  the 
South  Branch  (of  the  Potomac)  by  way  of 
the  ancient  path  from  Dunkards  Bottom. 
' '  As  the  path  it  is  said  is  very  blind  & 
exceedingly  grown  up  with  briers,"  wrote 
Washington,  September  25,  1784,  in  his 
Journal,  "  I  resolved  to  try  the  other  Rout, 
along  the  New  Road  to  Sandy  Creek ;  . 
This  offers  a  signal  instance  in  which  an 


24  PIONEER  ROADS 

ancient  route  had  become  obsolete.  Yet 
the  one  Washington  pursued  was  not  an 
Appian  Way :  ' '  .  .  we  started  at  dawn 
ing  of  day,  and  passing  along  a  small  path 
much  enclosed  with  weeds  and  bushes, 
loaded  with  Water  from  the  overnights 
rain  &  the  showers  which  were  continu 
ally  falling,  we  had  an  uncomfortable 
travel.  .  ."1  Such  was  the  "  New 
Road." 

The  two  great  roads  opened  westward 
by  the  armies  of  Washington,  Braddock, 
and  Forbes,  whose  history  has  been  dealt 
with  at  length  in  this  series,  were  opened 
along  the  line  of  trails  partially  widened 
by  the  pack-horses  of  the  Ohio  Company's 
agents  (this  course  having  been  first 
marked  out  by  Thomas  Cresap)  and  those 
of  the  Pennsylvania  traders.  Another 
route  led  up  the  Mohawk,  along  the  wide 
Iroquois  Trail,  and  down  the  Onondaga  to 
the  present  Oswego ;  this  was  a  waterway 
route  primarily,  the  two  rivers  (with  the 
portage  at  Rome)  offering  more  or  less 
facilities  for  shipping  the  heavy  baggage 
by  batteaus.  It  was  a  portage  path  from 
1 Diary  of  George  Washington,  Sept.  2  to  Oct.  4,  1784. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  26 

the  Hudson  to  Lake  Ontario;  the  old  land 
ward  trail  to  Niagara  not  being  opened  by 
an  army.2 

Yet  Braddock's  Road,  cut  in  1755,  was 
quite  filled  up  with  undergrowth  in  1758  as 
we  have  noted.  It  was  "  a  brush  wood, 
by  the  sprouts  from  the  old  stumps."3 
In  those  primeval  forests  a  road  narrowed 
very  fast,  and  quickly  became  impassable 
if  not  constantly  cared  for.  The  storms  of 
a  single  fall  or  spring  month  and  the  heavy 
clouds  of  snow  on  the  trees  in  winter  kept 
the  ground  beneath  well  littered  with 
broken  limbs  and  branches.  Here  and 
there  great  trees  were  thrown  by  the  winds 
across  the  traveled  ways.  And  so  a  mili 
tary  road  over  which  thousands  may  have 
passed  would  become,  if  left  untouched, 
quite  as  impassable  as  the  blindest  trail  in  a 
short  time. 

Other  Indian  trails  which  armies  never 
traversed  became  slightly  widened  by 
agents  of  land  companies,  as  in  the  case 
of  Boone  blazing  his  way  through  Cumber- 

2Cf.  "Journal  of  Lieut.  Robert  Parker,"  The  Penn 
sylvania  Magazine,  vol.  xxvii,  No.  io8,"pp.  404-420. 
3  Historic  Highways  of  America,  vol.  v,  p.  93. 


26  PIONEER  ROADS 

land  Gap  for  Richard  Henderson.  For  a 
considerable  distance  the  path  was  widened, 
either  by  Boone  or  Martin  himself,  to  Cap 
tain  Joseph  Martin's  "  station  "  in  Powell's 
Valley.  Thousands  of  traces  were  widened 
by  early  explorers  and  settlers  who  branched 
off  from  main  traveled  ways,  or  pushed 
ahead  on  an  old  buffalo  trail ;  the  path  just 
mentioned,  which  Washington  followed, 
was  a  buffalo  trail,  but  had  received  the 
name  of  an  early  pioneer  and  was  known 
as  "  McCulloch's  Path." 

But  our  second  picture  holds  good 
through  many  years  —  that  trail,  even 
though  armies  had  passed  over  it,  was  still 
but  a  widened  trail  far  down  into  the  early 
pioneer  days.  Though  wagons  went  west 
ward  with  Braddock  and  Forbes,  they  were 
not  seen  again  in  the  Alleghenies  for  more 
than  twenty-five  years.  These  were  the 
days  of  the  widened  trails,  the  days  of  the 
long  strings  of  jingling  ponies  bearing 
patiently  westward  salt  and  powder,  bars 
of  bended  iron,  and  even  mill-stones,  and 
bringing  back  to  the  East  furs  and  ginseng. 
Of  this  pack-saddle  era  —  this  age  of  the 
widened  trail  —  very  little  has  been  writ- 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  27 

ten,  and  it  cannot  be  passed  here  without  a 
brief  description.  In  Doddridge's  Notes 
we  read :  ' '  The  acquisition  of  the  indispen 
sable  articles  of  salt,  iron,  steel  and  castings 
presented  great  difficulties  to  the  first  set 
tlers  of  the  western  country.  They  had 
no  stores  of  any  kind,  no  salt,  iron,  nor  iron 
works ;  nor  had  they  money  to  make  pur 
chases  where  these  articles  could  be 
obtained.  Peltry  and  furs  were  their  only 
resources  before  they  had  time  to  raise  cat 
tle  and  horses  for  sale  in  the  Atlantic 
states.  Every  family  collected  what  peltry 
and  fur  they  could  obtain  throughout  the 
year  for  the  purpose  of  sending  them  over 
the  mountains  for  barter.  In  the  fall  of 
the  year,  after  seeding  time,  every  family 
formed  an  association  with  some  of  their 
neighbors,  for  starting  the  little  caravan. 
A  master  driver  was  to  be  selected  from 
among  them,  who  was  to  be  assisted  by 
one  or  more  young  men  and  sometimes  a 
boy  or  two.  The  horses  were  fitted  out 
with  pack-saddles,  to  the  latter  part  of 
which  was  fastened  a  pair  of  hobbles  made 
of  hickory  withes  —  a  bell  and  collar  orna 
mented  their  necks.  The  bags  provided 


28  PIONEER  ROADS 

for  the  conveyance  of  the  salt  were  filled 
with  feed  for  the  horses ;  on  the  journey  a 
part  of  this  feed  was  left  at  convenient 
stages  on  the  way  down,  to  support  the 
return  of  the  caravan.  Large  wallets  well 
filled  with  bread,  jerk,  boiled  ham,  and 
cheese  furnished  provision  for  the  drivers. 
At  night,  after  feeding,  the  horses,  whether 
put  in  pasture  or  turned  out  into  the  woods, 
were  hobbled  and  the  bells  were  opened 
[unstuffed].  .  .  Each  horse  carried 
[back]  two  bushels  of  alum  salt,  weighing 
eighty-four  pounds  to  the  bushel." 
Another  writer  adds :  ' '  The  caravan  route 
from  the  Ohio  river  to  Frederick  [Mary 
land]  crossed  the  stupendous  ranges  of 
the  .  .  mountains.  .  .  The  path, 
scarcely  two  feet  wide,  and  travelled  by 
horses  in  single  file,  roamed  over  hill  and 
dale,  through  mountain  defile,  ovei  craggy 
steeps,  beneath  impending  rocks,  and 
around  points  of  dizzy  heights,  where  one 
false  step  might  hurl  horse  and  rider  into 
the  abyss  below.  To  prevent  such  acci 
dents,  the  bulky  baggage  was  removed  in 
passing  the  dangerous  defiles,  to  secure 
the  horse  from  being  thrown  from  his 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  29 

scanty  foothold.  .  .  The  horses,  with 
their  packs,  were  marched  along  in  single 
file,  the  foremost  led  by  the  leader  of  the 
caravan,  while  each  successive  horse  was 
tethered  to  the  pack-saddle  of  the  horse 
before  him.  A  driver  followed  behind,  to 
keep  an  eye  upon  the  proper  adjustment  of 
the  packs."  The  Pennsylvania  historian 
Rupp  informs  us  that  in  the  Revolutionary 
period  ' '  five  hundred  pack-horses  had  been 
at  one  time  in  Carlisle  [Pennsylvania], 
going  thence  to  Shippensburg,  Fort  Lou- 
don,  and  further  westward,  loaded  with 
merchandise,  also  salt,  iron,  &c.  The 
pack-horses  used  to  carry  bars  of  iron  on 
their  backs,  crooked  over  and  around  their 
bodies;  barrels  or  kegs  were  hung  on  each 
side  of  these.  Colonel  Snyder,  of  Cham- 
bersburg,  in  a  conversation  with  the  writer 
in  August,  1 845 ,  said  that  he  cleared  many  a 
day  from  $6  to  $8  in  crooking  or  bending 
iron  and  shoeing  horses  for  western  carriers 
at  the  time  he  was  carrying  on  a  black 
smith  shop  in  the  town  of  Chambersburg. 
The  pack-horses  were  generally  led  in 
divisions  of  12  or  15  horses,  carrying  about 
two  hundred  weight  each  .  ;  when  the 


30  PIONEER  ROADS 

bridle  road  passed  along  declivities  or  over 
hills,  the  path  was  in  some  places  washed 
out  so  deep  that  the  packs  or  burdens  came 
in  contact  with  the  ground  or  other  im 
pending  obstacles,  and  were  frequently 
displaced." 

Though  we  have  been  specifically  notic 
ing  the  Alleghenies  we  have  at  the  same 
time  described  typical  conditions  that  apply 
everywhere.  The  widened  trail  was  the 
same  in  New  England  as  in  Kentucky  or 
Pennsylvania  —  in  fact  the  same,  at  one 
time,  in  old  England  as  in  New  England. 
Travelers  between  Glasgow  and  London  as 
late  as  1739  found  no  turnpike  till  within  a 
hundred  miles  of  the  metropolis.  Else 
where  they  traversed  narrow  causeways 
with  an  unmade,  soft  road  on  each  side. 
Strings  of  pack-horses  were  occasionally 
passed,  thirty  or  forty  in  a  train.  The 
foremost  horse  carried  a  bell  so  that  travel 
ers  in  advance  would  be  warned  to  step 
aside  and  make  room.  The  widened  pack- 
horse  routes  were  the  main  traveled  ways 
of  Scotland  until  a  comparatively  recent 
period.  "  When  Lord  Herward  was  sent, 
in  1760,  from  Ayrshire  to  the  college  at 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  31 

Edinburgh,  the  road  was  in  such  a  state 
that  servants  were  frequently  sent  forward 
with  poles  to  sound  the  depths  of  the 
mosses  and  bogs  which  lay  in  their  way. 
The  mail  was  regularly  dispatched  between 
Edinburgh  and  London,  on  horseback,  and 
went  in  the  course  of  five  or  six  days." 
In  the  sixteenth  century  carts  without 
springs  could  not  be  taken  into  the  country 
from  London ;  it  took  Queen  Henrietta  four 
days  to  traverse  Watling  Street  to  Dover. 
Of  one  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  journeys  it  is 
said :  ' '  It  was  marvelous  for  ease  and  ex 
pedition,  for  such  is  the  perfect  evenness 
of  the  new  highway  that  Her  Majesty  left 
the  coach  only  once,  while  the  hinds  and 
the  folk  of  baser  sort  lifted  it  on  their 
poles !  "  A  traveler  in  an  English  coach  of 
1663  said:  "  This  travel  hath  soe  indisposed 
mee,  yt  I  am  resolved  never  to  ride  up 
again e  in  ye  coatch." 

Thus  the  widened  trail  or  bridle-path,  as  it 
was  commonly  known  in  some  parts,  was 
the  universal  predecessor  of  the  highway. 
It  needs  to  be  observed,  however,  that 
winter  travel  in  regions  where  much  snow 
fell  greatly  influenced  land  travel.  The 


32  PIONEER  ROADS 

buffalo  and  Indian  did  not  travel  in  the 
winter,  but  white  men  in  early  days  found 
it  perhaps  easier  to  make  a  journey  on 
sleds  in  the  snow  than  at  any  other  time. 
In  such  seasons  the  bridle-paths  were,  of 
course,  largely  followed,  especially  in  the 
forests;  yet  in  the  open,  with  the  snow  a 
foot  and  more  in  depth,  many  short  cuts 
were  made  along  the  zig-zag  paths  and  in 
numerous  instances  these  short  cuts  became 
the  regular  routes  thereafter  for  all  time. 
An  interesting  instance  is  found  in  the 
"Narrative  of  Andrew  J.  Vieau,  Sr. :" 
"  This  path  between  Green  Bay  [Wiscon 
sin]  and  Milwaukee  was  originally  an 
Indian  trail,  and  very  crooked;  but  the 
whites  would  straighten  it  by  cutting  across 
lots  each  winter  with  their  jumpers  [rude 
boxes  on  runners],  wearing  bare  streaks 
through  the  thin  covering  [of  snow],  to  be 
followed  in  the  summer  by  foot  and  horse 
back  travel  along  the  shortened  path."  4 

This   form  of   traveling  was,  of  course, 
unknown  save  only  where  snow  fell  and 
remained  upon  the  ground  for  a  consider 
able  time.     Throughout  New  York  State 
4  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,  vol.  xi,  p.  230. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  33 

travel  on  snow  was  common  and  in  the 
central  portion  of  the  state,  where  there 
was  much  wet  ground  in  the  olden  time, 
it  was  easier  to  move  heavy  freight  in  the 
winter  than  in  summer  when  the  soft 
ground  was  treacherous.  Even  as  late  as 
the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  the  second 
and  third  decades  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury —  long  after  the  building  of  the 
Genesee  Road  —  freight  was  hauled  in  the 
winter  in  preference  to  summer.  In  the 
annual  report  of  the  comissioners  of  the 
Erie  Canal,  dated  January  25,  1819,  we 
read  that  the  roads  were  so  wretched 
between  Utica  and  Syracuse  in  the  sum 
mer  season  that  contractors  who  needed  to 
lay  up  a  supply  of  tools,  provisions, 
etc.,  for  their  men,  at  interior  points,  pur 
chased  them  in  the  winter  before  and  sent 
the  loads  onward  to  their  destinations  in 
sleighs.5  One  of  the  reasons  given  by  the 
Erie  Canal  commissioners  for  delays  and 
increased  expenses  in  the  work  on  the 
canal  in  1819,  in  their  report  delivered  to 
the  legislature  February  18,  1820,  was  that 

^Public    Documents'  Relating    to    the    New    York 
Canals  (New  York,  1821),  p.  312. 


34  PIONEER  ROADS 

the  absence  of  snow  in  central  New  York  in 
the  winter  of  1818-19  prevented  the  hand 
ling  of  heavy  freight  on  solid  roads ;  ' '  no 
hard  snow  path  could  be  found."  6  The 
soft  roads  of  the  summer  time  were  useless 
so  far  as  heavy  loads  of  lumber,  stone,  lime, 
and  tools  were  concerned.  No  winter  pic 
ture  of  early  America  is  so  vivid  as  that 
presented  by  the  eccentric  Evans  of  New 
Hampshire,  who,  dressed  in  his  Esquimau 
suit,  made  a  midwinter  pilgrimage  through 
out  the  country  lying  south  of  the  Great 
Lakes  from  Albany  to  Detroit  in  i8i8.7 
His  experiences  in  moving  across  the  Mid 
dle  West  with  the  blinding  storms,  the 
mountainous  drifts  of  snow,  the  great  icy 
cascades,  the  hurrying  rivers,  buried  out  of 
sight  in  their  banks  of  ice  and  snow,  and 
the  far  scattered  little  settlements  lost  to 
the  world,  helps  one  realize  what  traveling 
in  winter  meant  in  the  days  of  the  pioneer. 
The  real  work  of  opening  roads  in 
America  began,  of  course,  on  the  bridle 
paths  in  the  Atlantic  slope.  In  1639  a 
measure  was  passed  in  the  Massachusetts 

•/</.,  pp.  352-353- 

'A  Pedestrious  Tour,  by  Estwick  Evans. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  35 

Bay  Colony  reading :  ' '  Whereas  the  high 
ways  in  this  jurisdiction  have  not  been  laid 
out  with  such  conveniency  for  travellers  as 
were  fit,  nor  as  was  intended  by  this  court, 
but  that  in  some  places  they  are  felt  too 
straight,  and  in  other  places  travelers  are 
forced  to  go  far  about,  it  is  therefore, 
ordered,  that  all  highways  shall  be  laid  out 
before  the  next  general  court,  so  as  may 
be  with  most  ease  and  safety  for  travelers ; 
and  for  this  end  every  town  shall  choose 
two  or  three  men,  who  shall  join  with  two 
or  three  of  the  next  town,  and  these  shall 
have  power  to  lay  out  the  highways  in  each 
town  where  they  may  be  most  convenient; 
and  those  which  are  so  deputed  shall  have 
power  to  lay  out  the  highways  where  they 
may  be  most  convenient,  notwithstanding 
any  man's  propriety,  or  any  corne  ground, 
so  as  it  occasion  not  the  pulling  down  of 
any  man's  house,  or  laying  open  any  garden 
or  orchard;  and  in  common  [public] 
grounds,  or  where  the  soil  is  wet  or  miry, 
they  shall  lay  out  the  ways  the  wider,  as 
six,  or  eight,  or  ten  rods,  or  more  in  com 
mon  grounds."  With  the  establishment 
of  the  government  in  the  province  of  New 


36  PIONEER  ROADS 

York  in  1664  the  following  regulation  for 
road-making  was  established,  which  also 
obtained  in  Pennsylvania  until  William 
Penn's  reign  began:  "  In  all  public  works 
for  the  safety  and  defence  of  the  govern 
ment,  or  the  necessary  conveniencies  of 
bridges,  highways,  and  common  passen 
gers,  the  governor  or  deputy  governor  and 
council  shall  send  warrents  to  any  justice, 
and  the  justices  to  the  constable  of  the 
next  town,  or  any  other  town  within  that 
jurisdiction,  to  send  so  many  laborers  and 
artificers  as  the  warrent  shall  direct,  which 
the  constable  and  two  others  or  more  of  the 
overseers  shall  forthwith  execute,  and  the 
constable  and  overseers  shall  have  power 
to  give  such  wages  as  they  shall  judge  the 
work  to  deserve,  provided  that  no  ordinary 
laborer  shall  be  compelled  to  work  from 
home  above  one  week  together.  No  man 
shall  be  compelled  to  do  any  public  work 
or  service  unless  the  press  [impressment] 
be  grounded  upon  some  known  law  of  this 
government,  or  an  act  of  the  governor  and 
council  signifying  the  necessity  thereof,  in 
both  which  cases  a  reasonable  allowance 
shall  be  made."  A  later  amendment  indi- 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  37 

cates  the  rudeness  of  these  early  roads: 
"  The  highways  to  be  cleared  as  followeth, 
viz.,  the  way  to  be  made  clear  of  standing 
and  lying  trees,  at  least  ten  feet  broad ;  all 
stumps  and  shrubs  to  be  cut  close  by  the 
ground.  The  trees  marked  yearly  on  both 
sides  —  sufficient  bridges  to  be  made  and 
kept  over  all  marshy,  swampy,  and  difficult 
dirty  places,  and  whatever  else  shall  be 
thought  more  necessary  about  the  high 
ways  aforesaid." 

In  Pennsylvania,  under  Penn,  the  grand 
jury  laid  out  the  roads,  and  the  courts  ap 
pointed  overseers  and  fence-viewers,  but  in 
1692  the  townships  were  given  the  control 
of  the  roads.  Eight  years  later  the  county 
roads  were  put  in  the  hands  of  the  county 
justices,  and  king's  highways  in  the  hands 
of  the  governor  and  his  council.  Each 
county  was  ordered  to  erect  railed  bridges 
at  its  expense  over  rivers,  and  to  appoint 
its  own  overseers  and  fence-viewers. 

Even  the  slightest  mention  of  these  laws 
and  regulations  misrepresents  the  exact 
situation.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  War  it  can  almost  be  said  that  noth 
ing  had  been  done  toward  what  we  today 


38  PIONEER  ROADS 

know  as  road-building.  Many  routes  were 
cleared  of  ' '  standing  and  lying  trees ' '  and 
* '  stumps  and  shrubs ' '  were  cut  ' '  close  by 
the  ground"  -but  this  only  widened  the 
path  of  the  Indian  and  was  only  a  faint 
beginning  in  road-building.  The  skiff, 
batteau,  and  horse  attached  to  a  sleigh  or 
sled  in  winter,  were  the  only  common 
means  of  conveying  freight  or  passengers 
in  the  colonies  at  this  period.  We  have 
spoken  of  the  path  across  the  Alleghenies 
in  1750  as  being  but  a  winding  trace;  save 
for  the  roughness  of  the  territory  traversed 
it  was  a  fair  road  for  its  day,  seek  where 
the  traveler  might.  In  this  case,  as  in  so 
many  others,  the  history  of  the  postal 
service  in  the  United  States  affords  us  most 
accurate  and  reliable  information  concern 
ing  our  economic  development.  In  the 
year  mentioned,  1750,  the  mail  between 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  was  carried 
only  once  a  week  in  summer  and  twice  a 
month  in  winter.  Forty  years  later  there 
were  only  eighteen  hundred  odd  miles  of 
post  roads  in  the  whole  United  States.  At 
that  time  (1790)  only  five  mails  a  week 
passed  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  39 

It  may  be  said,  loosely,  that  the  widened 
trail  became  a  road  when  wheeled  vehicles 
began  to  pass  over  it.  Carts  and  wagons 
were  common  in  the  Atlantic  seaboard  states 
as  early  and  earlier  than  the  Revolution. 
It  was  at  the  close  of  that  war  that  wagons 
began  to  cross  the  Alleghenies  into  the 
Mississippi  Basin.  This  first  road  was  a 
road  in  "the  state  of  nature."  Nothing 
had  been  done  to  it  but  clearing  it  of  trees 
and  stumps. 

Yet  what  a  tremendous  piece  of  work 
was  this.  It  is  more  or  less  difficult  for  us 
to  realize  just  how  densely  wooded  a 
country  this  was  from  the  crest  of  the  Alle 
ghenies  to  the  seaboard  on  the  east,  and 
from  the  mountains  to  central  Indiana  and 
Kentucky  on  the  west.  The  pioneers 
fought  their  way  westward  through  wood, 
like  a  bullet  crushing  through  a  board. 
Every  step  was  retarded  by  a  live,  a  dying, 
or  a  dead  branch.  The  very  trees,  as  if 
dreading  the  savage  attack  of  the  white 
man  on  the  splendid  forests  of  the  interior, 
held  out  their  bony  arms  and  fingers, 
catching  here  a  jacket  and  there  a  foot,  in 
the  attempt  to  stay  the  invasion  of  their 


40  PIONEER  ROADS 

silent  haunts.  These  forests  were  very 
heavy  overhead.  The  boughs  were  closely 
matted,  in  a  life-and-death  struggle  for 
light  and  air.  The  forest  vines  bound 
them  yet  more  inextricably  together,  until 
it  was  almost  impossible  to  fell  a  tree  with 
out  first  severing  the  huge  arms  which 
were  bound  fast  to  its  neighbors.  This 
dense  overgrowth  had  an  important  influ 
ence  over  the  pioneer  traveler.  It  made 
the  space  beneath  dark;  the  gloom  of  a 
real  forest  is  never  forgotten  by  the  ' '  ten 
derfoot  "  lumberman.  The  dense  covering 
overhead  made  the  forests  extremely  hot 
in  the  dog  days  of  summer;  no  one  can 
appreciate  what  ' '  hot  weather  ' '  means  in 
a  forest  where  the  wind  cannot  descend 
through  the  trees  save  those  who  know  our 
oldest  forests.  What  made  the  forests  hot 
in  summer,  on  the  other  hand,  tended  to 
protect  them  from  winter  winds  in  cold 
weather.  Yet,  as  a  rule,  there  was  little 
pioneer  traveling  in  the  Allegheny  forests 
in  winter.  From  May  until  November 
came  the  months  of  heaviest  traffic  on  the 
first  widened  trails  through  these  gloomy, 
heated  forest  aisles. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  41 

It  can  be  believed  there  was  little  tree- 
cutting  on  these  first  pioneer  roads.  Save 
in  the  laurel  regions  of  the  Allegheny  and 
Cumberland  Mountains,  where  the  forest 
trees  were  supplanted  by  these  smaller 
growths,  there  was  little  undergrowth ;  the 
absence  of  sunlight  occasioned  this,  and 
rendered  the  old  forest  more  easily  trav 
ersed  than  one  would  suppose  after  reading 
many  accounts  of  pioneer  life.  The  prin 
cipal  interruption  of  travelers  on  the  old 
trails  was  in  the  form  of  fallen  trees  and 
dead  wood  which  had  been  brought  to  the 
ground  by  the  storms.  With  the  exception 
of  the  live  trees  which  were  blown  over, 
these  forms  of  impediment  to  travel  were 
not  especially  menacing ;  the  dead  branches 
crumbled  before  an  ax.  The  trees  which 
were  broken  down  or  uprooted  by  the  winds, 
however,  were  obstructions  difficult  to 
remove,  and  tended  to  make  pioneer  roads 
crooked,  as  often  perhaps  as  standing 
trees.  We  can  form  some  practical  notion 
of  the  dangerous  nature  of  falling  trees  by 
studying  certain  of  the  great  improvements 
which  were  early  projected  in  these  woods. 
The  Allegheny  Portage  Railway  over  the 


42  PIONEER  ROADS 

mountains  of  Huntingdon  County,  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  the  Erie  Canal  in  central  New 
York,  both  offer  illustrations  to  the  point. 
The  portage  track  was  sent  through  an 
unbroken,  uninhabited  forest  wilderness 
from  Hollidaysburg  to  Johnstown  in  the 
twenties.  In  order  to  render  the  inclines 
safe  from  falling  trees  and  breaking 
branches,  a  swath  through  the  woods  was 
cut  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  wide.8 
The  narrow  trellis  of  the  inclines  scaled 
the  mountain  in  the  center  of  this  avenue ; 
wide  as  it  was,  a  tree  fifty  feet  long  could 
have  swept  it  away  like  paper.  The  Erie 
Canal  was  to  be  forty  feet  in  width ;  a  clean 
sixty  foot  aisle  was  opened  through  the 
forests  before  the  digging  could  begin. 

Of  course  nothing  like  this  could  be  done 
for  pioneer  highways;  when  the  states 
began  to  appropriate  money  for  state  roads, 
then  the  pioneer  routes  were  straightened 
by  cutting  some  trees.  It  was  all  the  scat 
tered  communities  could  do  before  this 
period  to  keep  the  falling  trees  and 
branches  from  blocking  the  old  roads. 
Travelers  wound  in  and  out  on  one  of  the 

*  Historic  Highways  of  America,  vol.  xiii,  ch.  4. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  43 

many  tracks,  stumbling,  slipping,  grind 
ing  on  the  roots,  going  around  great  trees 
that  had  not  been  removed  ,  and  keeping  to 
the  high  ground  when  possible,  for  there 
the  forest  growth  was  less  dense. 

The  question  immediately  arises,  What 
sort  of  vehicle  could  weather  such  roads? 
First  in  the  van  came  the  great  clumsy 
cart,  having  immensely  high  and  solid 
wooden  wheels.  These  were  obtained 
either  by  taking  a  thin  slice  from  the  butt 
of  the  greatest  log  that  could  be  found  in 
good  condition,  or  by  being  built  piece 
meal  by  rude  carpenters.  These  great 
wheels  would  go  safely  wherever  oxen 
could  draw  them,  many  of  their  hubs  being 
three  feet  from  the  ground.  Thus  the  body 
of  the  cart  would  clear  any  ordinary  brook 
and  river  at  any  ford  which  horses  or  oxen 
could  cross.  No  rocks  could  severely  injure 
such  a  massy  vehicle,  at  the  rate  it  usually 
moved,  and  no  mere  rut  could  disturb  its 
stolid  dignity.  Like  the  oxen  attached  to 
it,  the  pioneer  cart  went  on  its  lumbering 
way  despising  everything  but  bogs,  great 
tree  boles  and  precipices.  These  creaking 
carts  could  proceed,  therefore,  nearly  on  the 


44  PIONEER  ROADS 

ancient  bridle-path  of  the  pack-horse  age. 
On  the  greater  routes  westward  the  intro 
duction  of  wheeled  vehicles  necessitated 
some  changes;  now  and  then  the  deep- 
worn  passage-way  was  impassable,  and 
detours  were  made  which,  at  a  later  day, 
became  the  main  course.  Here,  where  the 
widened  trail  climbed  a  steeper  "  hog-back" 
than  usual,  the  cart-drivers  made  a  round 
about  road  which  was  used  in  dry  weather. 
There,  where  the  old  trail  wound  about  a 
marshy  piece  of  ground  in  all  weathers, 
the  cart-drivers  would  push  on  in  a  straight 
line  during  dry  seasons. 

Thus  the  typical  pioneer  road  even  before 
the  day  of  wagons  was  a  many-track  road 
and  should  most  frequently  be  called  a 
route  —  a  word  we  have  so  frequently  used 
in  this  series  of  monographs.  Each  of  the 
few  great  historic  roads  was  a  route  which 
could  have  been  turned  into  a  three,  four, 
and  five  track  course  in  very  much  the 
same  way  as  railways  become  double- 
tracked  by  uniting  a  vast  number  of  side 
tracks.  The  most  important  reason  for 
variation  of  routes  was  the  wet  and  dry 
seasons;  in  the  wet  season  advantage  had 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  45 

to  be  taken  of  every  practicable  altitude. 
The  Indian  or  foot  traveler  could  easily 
gain  the  highest  eminence  at  hand;  the 
pack-horse  could  reach  many  but  not  all ; 
the  "  travail  "  and  cart  could  reach  many, 
while  the  later  wagon  could  climb  only  a 
few.  In  dry  weather  the  low  ground 
offered  the  easiest  and  quickest  route.  As 
a  consequence  every  great  route  had  what 
might  almost  be  called  its  "wet"  and 
"  dry  "  roadways.  In  one  of  the  early  laws 
quoted  we  have  seen  that  in  wet  or  miry 
ground  the  roads  should  be  laid  out  ' '  six, 
eight,  or  ten  rods  [wide],"  though  else 
where  ten  or  twelve  feet  was  considered  a 
fair  width  for  an  early  road.  As  a  conse 
quence,  even  before  the  day  of  wagons, 
the  old  routes  of  travel  were  often  very 
wide,  especially  in  wet  places;  in  wet 
weather  they  were  broader  here  than 
ever.  But  until  the  day  of  wagons  the 
track-beds  were  not  so  frequently  ruined. 
Of  this  it  is  now  time  to  speak. 

By  1785  we  may  believe  the  great  freight 
traffic  by  means  of  wagons  had  fully  begun 
across  the  Alleghenies  at  many  points.  It 
is  doubtful  if  anywhere  else  in  the  United 


46  PIONEER  ROADS 

States  did  ' '  wagoning  ' '  and  * '  wagoners  ' ' 
become  so  common  or  do  such  a  thriving 
trade  as  on  three  or  four  trans- Allegheny 
routes  between  1785  and  1850.  The  Atlan 
tic  Ocean  and  the  rivers  had  been  the 
arteries  of  trade  between  the  colonies  from 
the  earliest  times.  The  freight  traffic  by 
land  in  the  seaboard  states  had  amounted 
to  little  save  in  local  cases,  compared  with 
the  great  industry  of  "  freighting"  which, 
about  1785,  arose  in  Baltimore  and  Phila 
delphia  and  concerned  the  then  Central 
West.  This  study,  like  that  of  our  postal 
history,  throws  great  light  on  the  subject 
in  hand.  Road-building,  in  the  abstract, 
began  at  the  centers  of  population  and 
spread  slowly  with  the  growth  of  popula 
tion.  For  instance,  in  Revolutionary  days 
Philadelphia  was,  as  it  were,  a  hub  and 
from  it  a  number  of  important  roads,  like 
spokes,  struck  out  in  all  directions.  Com 
paratively,  these  were  few  in  number  and 
exceedingly  poor,  yet  they  were  enough 
and  sufficiently  easy  to  traverse  to  give 
Washington  a  deal  of  trouble  in  trying  to 
prevent  the  avaricious  country  people  from 
treacherously  feeding  the  British  invaders. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  47 

These  roads  out  from  Philadelphia,  for 
instance,  were  used  by  wagons  longer  dis 
tances  each  year.  Beginning  back  at  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  may  be 
said  that  the  wagon  roads  grew  longer  and 
the  pack-horse  routes  or  bridle-paths  grew 
shorter  each  year.  The  freight  was  brought 
from  the  seaboard  cities  in  wagons  to  the 
end  of  the  wagon  roads  and  there  trans 
ferred  to  the  pack-saddles.  Referring  to 
this  era  we  have  already  quoted  a  passage 
in  which  it  is  said  that  five  hundred  pack- 
horses  have  been  seen  at  one  time  at  Car 
lisle,  Pennsylvania.  For  a  longer  period 
than  was  perhaps  true  elsewhere,  Carlisle 
was  the  end  of  the  wagon  road  westward. 
A  dozen  bridle-paths  converged  here. 
Here  all  freight  was  transferred  to  the 
strings  of  patient  ponies.  Loudon,  Penn 
sylvania,  was  another  peculiar  borderland 
depot  later  on.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  when  Richard  Henderson  and  party 
advanced  to  Kentucky  in  1775  they  were 
able  to  use  wagons  as  far  as  Captain  Joseph 
Martin's  "station"  in  Powell's  Valley. 
At  that  point  all  freight  had  to  be  trans 
ferred  to  the  backs  of  ponies  for  the  climb 


48  PIONEER  ROADS 

over  the  Cumberlands.  In  the  days  of 
Marcus  Whitman,  who  opened  the  first  road 
across  the  Rocky  Mountains,  Fort  Laramie, 
Wyoming,  was  the  terminus  of  wagon 
travel  in  the  far  West.  Thus  pioneer  roads 
unfolded,  as  it  were,  joint  by  joint,  the 
rapidity  depending  on  the  volume  of  traffic, 
increase  of  population,  and  topography. 

The  first  improvement  on  these  greater 
routes,  after  the  necessary  widening,  was 
to  enable  wagons  to  avoid  high  ground. 
Here  and  there  wagons  pushed  on  beyond 
the  established  limit,  and,  finding  the 
way  not  more  desperate  than  much  of  the 
preceding  "road,"  had  gone  on  and  on, 
until  at  last  wagons  came  down  the  western 
slopes  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  wagon 
traffic  began  to  be  considered  possible  — 
much  to  the  chagrin  of  the  cursing  pack- 
horse  men.  No  sooner  was  this  fact  accom 
plished  than  some  attention  was  paid  to 
the  road.  The  wagons  could  not  go  every 
where  the  ponies  or  even  the  heavy  carts 
had  gone.  They  could  not  climb  the  steep 
knolls  and  remain  on  the  rocky  ridges. 
The  lower  grounds  were,  therefore,  pur 
sued  and  the  wet  grounds  were  made  passa- 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  51 

ble  by ' '  corduroying  ' '  —  laying  logs  closely 
together  to  form  a  solid  roadbed.  So  far  as 
I  can  learn  this  work  was  done  by  every 
body  in  particular  and  nobody  in  general. 
Those  who  were  in  charge  of  wagons  were, 
of  course,  the  most  interested  in  keeping 
them  from  sinking  out  of  sight  in  the  mud- 
holes.  When  possible,  such  places  were 
skirted;  when  high  or  impassable  ground 
prevented  this,  the  way  was  "  corduroyed." 
We  have  spoken  of  the  width  of  old-time 
bridle-paths ;  with  the  advent  of  the  heavy 
freighter  these  wide  routes  were  doubled 
and  trebled  in  width.  And,  so  long  as  the 
roadbeds  remained  in  a  "  state  of  nature," 
the  heavier  the  wagon  traffic,  the  wider  the 
roads  became.  We  have  described  certain 
great  tracks,  like  that  of  Braddock's  Road, 
which  can  be  followed  today  even  in  the 
open  by  the  lasting  marks  those  plunging 
freighters  made  in  the  soft  ground.  They 
suggest  in  their  deep  outline  what  the  old 
wagon  roads  must  have  been ;  yet  it  must 
be  remembered  that  only  what  we  may  call 
the  main  road  is  visible  today  —  the  in 
numerable  side-tracks  being  obliterated 
because  not  so  deeply  worn.  In  a  number 


52  PIONEER  ROADS 

of  instances  on  Braddock's  Road  plain  evi 
dence  remains  of  these  side-tracks.  Judg 
ing  then  from  this  evidence,  and  from 
accounts  which  have  come  down  to  us,  the 
introduction  of  the  freighter  with  its 
heavier  loads  and  narrower  wheels  turned 
the  wide,  deeply  worn  bridle-paths  and  cart 
tracks  into  far  wider  and  far  deeper  courses. 
The  corduroy  road  had  a  tendency  to  con 
tract  the  route,  but  even  here,  where  the 
ground  was  softest,  it  became  desperate 
traveling.  Where  one  wagon  had  gone, 
leaving  great  black  ruts  behind  it,  another 
wagon  would  pass  with  greater  difficulty 
leaving  behind  it  yet  deeper  and  yet  more 
treacherous  tracks.  Heavy  rains  would  fill 
each  cavity  with  water,  making  the  road 
nothing  less  than  what  in  Illinois  was 
known  as  a  "  sloo."  The  next  wagoner 
would,  therefore,  push  his  unwilling  horses 
into  a  veritable  slough,  perhaps  having 
explored  it  with  a  pole  to  see  if  there  was 
a  bottom  to  be  found  there.  In  some  in 
stances  the  bottoms  ' '  fell  out, ' '  and  many 
a  reckless  driver  has  lost  his  load  in  push 
ing  heedlessly  into  a  bottomless  pit.  In 
case  a  bottom  could  be  found  the  driver 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  63 

pushes  on ;  if  not,  he  finds  a  way  about ;  if 
this  is  not  possible  he  throws  logs  into  the 
hole  and  makes  an  artificial  bottom  over 
which  he  proceeds. 

We  can  hardly  imagine  what  it  meant  to 
get  stalled  on  one  of  the  old  ' '  hog  wallow  ' ' 
roads  on  the  frontier.  True,  many  of  our 
country  roads  today  offer  bogs  quite  as 
wide  and  deep  as  any  ever  known  in  west 
ern  Virginia  or  Pennsylvania;  and  it  is 
equally  true  that  roads  were  but  little  bet 
ter  in  the  pioneer  era  on  the  outskirts  of 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  than  far  away 
in  the  mountains.  It  remains  yet  for  the 
present  writer  to  find  a  sufficiently  bar 
barous  incident  to  parallel  one  which 
occurred  on  the  Old  York  (New  York) 
Road  just  out  of  Philadelphia,  in  which 
half  a  horse's  head  was  pulled  off  in  at 
tempting  to  haul  a  wagon  from  a  hole  in 
the  road.  "  Jonathan  Tyson,  a  farmer  of 
68  years  of  age  [in  1844],  of  Abington,  saw, 
at  1 6  years  of  age,  much  difficulty  in  going 
to  the  city  [Philadelphia  on  York  Road] :  a 
dreadful  mire  of  blackish  mud  rested  near 
the  present  Rising  Sun  village.  .  .  He 
saw  there  the  team  of  Mr.  Nickum,  of 


54  PIONEER  ROADS 

Chestnut  hill,  stalled;  and  in  endeavoring 
to  draw  out  the  forehorse  with  an  iron 
chain  to  his  head,  it  slipped  and  tore  off 
the  lower  jaw,  and  the  horse  died  on  the 
spot.  There  was  a  very  bad  piece  of  road 
nearer  to  the  city,  along  the  front  of  the 
Norris  estate.  It  was  frequent  to  see  there 
horses  struggling  in  mire  to  their  knees. 
Mr.  Tyson  has  seen  thirteen  lime  wagons 
at  a  time  stopped  on  the  York  road,  near 
Logan's  hill,  to  give  one  another  assist 
ance  to  draw  through  the  mire;  and  the 
drivers  could  be  seen  with  their  trowsers 
rolled  up,  and  joining  team  to  team  to 
draw  out;  at  other  times  they  set  up  a 
stake  in  the  middle  of  the  road  to  warn  off 
wagons  from  the  quicksand  pits.  Some 
times  they  tore  down  fences,  and  made 
new  roads  through  the  fields. ' ' 9 

If  such  was  the  case  almost  within  the 
city  limits  of  Philadelphia,  it  is  not  diffi 
cult  to  realize  what  must  have  been  the 
conditions  which  obtained  far  out  on  the 
continental  routes.  It  became  a  serious 
problem  to  get  stalled  in  the  mountains 
late  in  the  day ;  assistance  was  not  always 
9  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  i,  p.  257. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  55 

at  hand  —  indeed  the  settlements  were 
many  miles  apart  in  the  early  days.  Many 
a  driver,  however,  has  been  compelled  to 
wade  in,  unhitch  his  horses,  and  spend  the 
night  by  the  bog  into  which  his  freight 
was  settling  lower  and  lower  each  hour. 
Fortunate  he  was  if  early  day  brought 
assistance.  Sometimes  it  was  necessary  to 
unload  wholly  or  in  part,  before  a  heavy 
wagon,  once  fairly  "  set,"  could  be  hauled 
out.  Around  such  treacherous  places  ran 
a  vast  number  of  routes  some  of  which 
were  as  dangerous  —  because  used  once  too 
often  —  as  the  central  track.  In  some 
places  detours  of  miles  in  length  could  be 
made.  A  pilot  was  needed  by  every  inex 
perienced  person,  and  many  blundering 
wiseacres  lost  their  entire  stock  of  worldly 
possessions  in  the  old  bogs  and  "  sloos " 
and  swamps  of  the  ' '  West. ' ' 

A  town  in  Indiana  was  ' '  very  appropri 
ately  "  named  Mudholes,  a  name  that 
would  have  been  the  most  common  in  the 
country  a  century  ago  if  only  descriptive 
names  had  been  allowed.10  The  condition 

10 See  "  Hulme's  Journal"  in  W.  Cobbett's  A  Year's 
Residence  in  the  United  States  (1819),  p.  490. 


56  PIONEER  ROADS 

of  pioneer  roads  did,  undoubtedly,  influ 
ence  the  beginnings  of  towns  and  cities. 
On  the  longer  routes  it  will  be  found  that 
the  steep  hills  almost  invariably  became 
the  sites  of  villages  because  of  physical 
conditions.  "  Long-a-coming,"  a  New 
Jersey  village,  bore  a  very  appropriate 
name.11 

The  girls  of  Sussex,  England,  were  said 
to  be  exceedingly  long-limbed,  and  a 
facetious  wag  affirmed  the  reason  to  be  that 
the  Sussex  mud  was  so  deep  and  sticky 
that  in  drawing  out  the  foot  ' '  by  the 
strength  of  the  ancle  ' '  the  muscles,  and 
then  the  bones,  of  the  leg  were  lengthened ! 
In  1708  when  Prince  George  of  Denmark 
went  to  meet  Charles  the  Seventh  of  Spain 
traveling  by  coach,  he  traveled  at  the  rate 
of  nine  miles  in  six  hours  —  a  tribute  to 
the  strength  of  Sussex  mud.  Charles 
Augustus  Murray,  in  his  Travels  in  North 
America,  leaves  us  a  humorous  account  of 
the  mud-holes  in  the  road  from  the  Poto 
mac  to  Fredericksburg,  Maryland,  and  his 
experience  upon  it: 

"  On  the  2;th  of  March  I  quitted  Wash- 

11 D.  Hewett's  American  Traveller  (1825),  p.  222. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  57 

ington,  to  make  a  short  tour  in  the  districts 
of  Virginia  adjacent  to  the  James  River; 
comprising  Richmond,  the  present  capital, 
Williamsburgh,  the  former  seat  of  colonial 
government,  Norfolk,  and  other  towns. 

"  The  first  part  of  the  journey  is  by 
steam-boat,  descending  the  Potomac  about 
sixty  miles.  The  banks  of  this  river,  after 
passing  Mount  Vernon,  are  uninteresting, 
and  I  did  not  regret  the  speed  of  the 
Champion,  which  performed  that  distance 
in  somewhat  less  than  five  hours ;  but  this 
rate  of  travelling  was  amply  neutralized  by 
the  movement  of  the  stage  which  conveyed 
me  from  the  landing-place  to  Frederics- 
burgh.  I  was  informed  that  the  distance 
was  only  twelve  miles,  and  I  was  weak 
enough  (in  spite  of  my  previous  experience) 
to  imagine  that  two  hours  would  bring  me 
thither,  especially  as  the  stage  was  drawn 
by  six  good  nags,  and  driven  by  a  lively 
cheerful  fellow ;  but  the  road  bade  defiance 
to  all  these  advantages  —  it  was,  indeed, 
such  as  to  compel  me  to  laugh  out-right, 
notwithstanding  the  constant  and  severe 
bumping  to  which  it  subjected  both  the  in 
tellectual  and  sedentary  parts  of  my  person. 


58  PIONEER  ROADS 

"  I  had  before  tasted  the  sweets  of  mud- 
holes,  huge  stones,  and  remnants  of  pine- 
trees  standing  and  cut  down ;  but  here  was 
something  new,  namely,  a  bed  of  reddish- 
coloured  clay,  from  one  to  two  feet  deep, 
so  adhesive  that  the  wheels  were  at  times 
literally  not  visible  in  any  one  spot  from 
the  box  to  the  tire,  and  the  poor  horses' 
feet  sounded,  when  they  drew  them  out  (as 
a  fellow-traveller  observed),  like  the  report 
of  a  pistol.  I  am  sorry  that  I  was  not 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  chemistry  or 
mineralogy  to  analyze  that  wonderful  clay 
and  state  its  constituent  parts ;  but  if  I  were 
now  called  upon  to  give  a  receipt  for  a  mess 
most  nearly  resembling  it,  I  would  write, 
1  Recipe  —  (nay,  I  must  write  the  ingredi 
ents  in  English,  for  fear  of  taxing  my  Latin 
learning  too  severely)  — 

Ordinary  clay      .         .  i  Ib. 

Do.  Pitch     .         .         .         .      i  Ib. 

Bird-lime     .         .         .         .     6  oz. 

Putty  .         .         .         .         .6  oz. 

Glue i  Ib. 

Red  lead,  or  colouring  matter  6  oz. 
Fiat    haustus  —  segrot.     terq.     qua- 

terq.  quatiend.' 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPI KE  59 

1 '  Whether  the  foregoing,  with  a  proper 
admixture  of  hills,  holes,  stumps,  and 
rocks,  made  a  satisfactory  draught  or  not,  I 
will  refer  to  the  unfortunate  team  —  I,  alas! 
can  answer  for  the  effectual  application  of 
the  second  part  of  the  prescription,  accord 
ing  to  the  Joe  Miller  version  of  '  When 
taken,  to  be  well  shaken !  ' 

"  I  arrived,  however,  without  accident  or 
serious  bodily  injury,  at  Fredericsburgh, 
having  been  only  three  hours  and  a  half  in 
getting  over  the  said  twelve  miles;  and,  in 
justice  to  the  driver,  I  must  say  that  I  very 
much  doubt  whether  any  crack  London 
whip  could  have  driven  those  horses  over 
that  ground  in  the  same  time :  there  is  not 
a  sound  that  can  emanate  from  human 
lungs,  nor  an  argument  of  persuasion  that 
can  touch  the  feelings  of  a  horse,  that  he 
did  not  employ,  with  a  perseverance  and 
success  which  commanded  my  admiration." 

Fancy  these  wild,  rough  routes  which, 
combined,  often  covered  half  an  acre,  and 
sometimes  spread  out  to  a  mile  in  total 
width,  in  freezing  weather  when  every 
hub  and  tuft  was  as  solid  as  ice.  How 
many  an  anxious  wagoner  has  pushed  his 


60  PIONEER  ROADS 

horses  to  the  bitter  edge  of  exhaustion  to 
gain  his  destination  ere  a  freeze  would  stall 
him  as  completely  as  if  his  wagon-bed  lay 
on  the  surface  of  a  "  quicksand  pit."  A 
heavy  load  could  not  be  sent  over  a  frozen 
pioneer  road  without  wrecking  the  vehicle. 
Yet  in  some  parts  the  freight  traffic  had  to 
go  on  in  the  winter,  as  the  hauling  of  cot 
ton  to  market  in  the  southern  states.  Such 
was  the  frightful  condition  of  the  old  roads 
that  four  and  five  yoke  of  oxen  conveyed 
only  a  ton  of  cotton  so  slowly  that  motion 
was  almost  imperceptible ;  and  in  the  win 
ter  and  spring,  it  has  been  said,  with  per 
haps  some  tinge  of  truthfulness,  that  one 
could  walk  on  dead  oxen  from  Jackson  to 
Vicksburg.  The  Bull-skin  Road  of  pioneer 
days  leading  from  the  Pickaway  Plains  in 
Ohio  to  Detroit  was  so  named  from  the 
large  number  of  cattle  which  died  on  the 
long,  rough  route,  their  hides,  to  exagger 
ate  again,  lining  the  way. 

In  our  study  of  the  Ohio  River  as  a 
highway  it  was  possible  to  emphasize  the 
fact  that  the  evolution  of  river  craft  indi 
cated  with  great  significance  the  evolution 
of  social  conditions  in  the  region  under 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  61 

review;  the  keel-boat  meant  more  than 
canoe  or  pirogue,  the  barge  or  flat-boat 
more  than  the  keel-boat,  the  brig  and 
schooner  more  than  the  barge,  and  the 
steamboat  far  more  than  all  preceding 
species.  We  affirmed  that  the  change  of 
craft  on  our  rivers  was  more  rapid  than  on 
land,  because  of  the  earlier  adaptation  of 
steam  to  vessels  than  to  vehicles.  But  it 
is  in  point  here  to  observe  that,  slow  as 
were  the  changes  on  land,  they  were 
equally  significant.  The  day  of  the 
freighter  and  the  corduroy  road  was  a 
brighter  day  for  the  expanding  nation  than 
that  of  the  pack-horse  and  the  bridle-path. 
The  cost  of  shipping  freight  by  pack-horses 
was  tremendous.  In  1794,  during  the 
Whiskey  Insurrection  in  western  Pennsyl 
vania,  the  cost  of  shipping  goods  to  Pitts- 
burg  by  wagon  ranged  from  five  to  ten 
dollars  per  hundred  pounds;  salt  sold  for 
five  dollars  a  bushel,  and  iron  and  steel 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  cents  per  pound  in 
Pittsburg.  What  must  have  been  the  price 
when  one  horse  carried  only  from  one 
hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds?  The  freighter  represented  a 


62  PIONEER  ROADS 

growing  population  and  the  growing  needs 
of  the  new  empire  in  the  West. 

The  advent  of  the  stagecoach  marked  a 
new  era  as  much  in  advance  of  the  old  as 
was  the  day  of  the  steamboat  in  advance  of 
that  of  the  barge  and  brig  of  early  days. 

The  social  disturbance  caused  by  the  in 
troduction  of  coaches  on  the  pioneer  roads 
of  America  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  road  condi 
tions  at  this  distant  day  to  be  gained  no 
other  way.  A  score  of  local  histories  give 
incidents  showing  the  anger  of  those  who 
had  established  the  more  important  -pack- 
horse  lines  across  the  continent  at  the  com 
ing  of  the  stage.  Coaches  were  overturned 
and  passengers  were  maltreated;  horses 
were  injured,  drivers  were  chastised  and 
personal  property  ruined.  Even  while  the 
Cumberland  Road  was  being  built  the  early 
coaches  were  in  danger  of  assault  by  the 
workmen  building  the  road,  incited,  no 
doubt,  by  the  angry  pack-horse  men  whose 
profession  had  been  eclipsed.  It  is  inter 
esting  in  this  connection  to  look  again  back 
to  the  mother-country  and  note  the  unrest 
which  was  occasioned  by  the  introduc 
tion  of  stagecoaches  on  the  bridle-paths  of 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  63 

England.  Early  coaching  there  was  de 
scribed  as  destructive  to  trade,  prejudicial 
to  landed  interests,  destructive  to  the  breed 
of  horses,11*  and  as  an  interference  with 
public  resources.  It  was  urged  that  travel 
ers  in  coaches  got  listless,  ' '  not  being  able 
to  endure  frost,  snow  or  rain,  or  to  lodge 
in  the  fields!  "  Riding  in  coaches  injured 
trade  since  "  most  gentlemen,  before  they 
travelled  in  coaches,  used  to  ride  with 
swords,  belts,  pistols,  holsters,  portman 
teaus,  and  hat-cases,  which,  in  these 
coaches,  they  have  little  or  no  occasion  for: 
for,  when  they  rode  on  horseback,  they 
rode  in  one  suit  and  carried  another  to 
wear  when  they  came  to  their  journey's 
end,  or  lay  by  the  way ;  but  in  coaches  a 
silk  suit  and  an  Indian  gown,  with  a  sash, 
silk  stockings,  and  beaver  hats,  men  ride 
in  and  carry  no  other  with  them,  because 
they  escape  the  wet  and  dirt,  which  on 
horseback  they  cannot  avoid;  whereas  in 

n*  It  is  curious  to  note  that  while  the  introduction  of 
coaches  is  said  here  to  be  injurious  to  the  breed  of 
horses,  Macaulay,  a  century  or  so  later,  decried  the 
passing  of  the  coach  and  the  old  coaching  days  because 
this,  too,  meant  the  destruction  of  the  breed  of  horses ! 
—  See  Historic  Highways  of  America,  vol.  x,  p.  122. 


64  PIONEER  ROADS 

two  or  three  journeys  on  horseback,  these 
clothes  and  hats  were  wont  to  be  spoiled ; 
which  done,  they  were  forced  to  have  new 
very  often,  and  that  increased  the  consump 
tion  of  the  manufacturers ;  which  travelling 
in  coaches  doth  in  no  way  do."  If  the 
pack-horse  man's  side  of  the  question  was 
not  advocated  with  equally  marvelous  argu 
ments  in  America  we  can  be  sure  there  was 
no  lack  of  debate  on  the  question  whether 
the  stagecoach  was  a  sign  of  advancement 
or  of  deterioration.  For  instance,  the  mails 
could  not  be  carried  so  rapidly  by  coach  as 
by  a  horseman ;  and  when  messages  were 
of  importance  in  later  days  they  were 
always  sent  by  an  express  rider.  The 
advent  of  the  wagon  and  coach  promised  to 
throw  hundreds  of  men  out  of  employment. 
Business  was  vastly  facilitated  when  the 
freighter  and  coach  entered  the  field,  but 
fewer  "  hands"  were  necessary.  Again, 
the  horses  which  formerly  carried  the 
freight  of  America  on  their  backs  were  not 
of  proper  build  and  strength  to  draw  heavy 
loads  on  either  coach  or  wagon.  They 
were  ponies ;  they  could  carry  a  few  score 
pounds  with  great  skill  over  blind  and 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  65 

ragged  paths,  but  they  could  not  draw  the 
heavy  wagons.  Accordingly  hundreds  of 
owners  of  pack-horses  were  doomed  to  see 
an  alarming  deterioration  in  the  value  of 
their  property  when  great,  fine  coach 
horses  were  shipped  from  distant  parts  to 
carry  the  freight  and  passenger  loads  of  the 
stagecoach  day. 

The  change  in  form  of  American  ve 
hicles  was  small  but  their  numbers  in 
creased  within  a  few  years  prodigiously. 
Nominally  this  era  must  be  termed  that  of 
the  macadamized  road,  or  roads  made  of 
layers  of  broken  stone  like  the  Cumberland 
Road.  These  roads  were  wider  than  any 
single  track  of  any  of  the  routes  they  fol 
lowed,  though  thirty  feet  was  the  average 
maximum  breadth.  To  a  greater  degree 
than  would  be  surmised,  the  courses  of  the 
old  roads  were  followed.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  Cumberland  Road,  though  paral 
leling  Braddock's  Road  from  Cumberland 
to  Laurel  Hill,  was  not  built  on  its  bed 
more  than  a  mile  in  the  aggregate.  After 
studying  the  ground  I  believe  this  is  more 
or  less  incorrect ;  for  what  we  should  call 
Braddock's  route  was  composed  of  many 


66  PIONEER  ROADS 

roads  and  tracks.  One  of  these  was  a  cen 
tral  road ;  the  Cumberland  Road  may  have 
been  built  on  the  bed  of  this  central  track 
only  a  short  distance,  but  on  one  of  the 
almost  innumerable  side-tracks,  detours, 
and  cut-offs,  for  many  miles.  At  Great 
Meadows,  for  instance,  it  would  seem  that 
the  Cumberland  Road  was  separated  from 
Braddock's  by  the  width  of  the  valley;  yet 
as  you  move  westward  you  cross  the  central 
track  of  Braddock's  Road  just  before  reach 
ing  Braddock's  Grave.  May  not  an  old 
route  have  led  from  Great  Meadows  thither 
on  the  same  hillside  where  we  find  the 
Cumberland  Road  today?  The  crook 
edness  of  these  first  stable  roads,  like  many 
of  the  older  streets  in  our  cities,12  indicates 
that  the  old  corduroy  road  served  in  part  as 
a  guide  for  the  later  road-makers.  It  is  a 
common  thing  in  the  mountains,  either  on 
the  Cumberland  or  Pennsylvania  state 
roads,  to  hear  people  say  that  had  the  older 
routes  been  even  more  strictly  adhered  to 

12  Florida  Avenue  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  street 
laid  out  on  the  present  site  of  Washington,  D.  C.  As  it 
is  the  most  crooked  of  all  the  streets  and  avenues  this 
is  easy  to  believe. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  67 

better  grades  would  have  been  the  result. 
A  remarkable  and  truthful  instance  of  this 
(for  there  cannot,  in  truth,  be  many)  is  the 
splendid  way  Braddock's  old  road  sweeps 
to  the  top  of  Laurel  Hill  by  gaining  that 
strategic  ridge  which  divides  the  heads  of 
certain  branches  of  the  Youghiogheny  on 
the  one  hand  and  Cheat  River  on  the  other 
near  Washington's  Rock.  The  Cumber 
land  Road  in  the  valley  gains  the  same 
height  (Laurel  Hill)  by  a  longer  and  far 
more  difficult  route. 

The  stagecoach  heralded  the  new  age  of 
road-building,  but  these  new  macadamized 
roads  were  few  and  far  between;  many 
roadways  were  widened  and  graded  by 
states  or  counties,  but  they  remained  dirt 
roads ;  a  few  plank  roads  were  built.  The 
vast  number  of  roads  of  better  grade  were 
built  by  one  of  the  host  of  road  and  turn 
pike  companies  which  sprang  up  in  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Specific 
mention  of  certain  of  these  will  be  made 
later. 

Confining  our  view  here  to  general  con 
ditions,  we  now  see  the  Indian  trail  at  its 
broadest.  While  the  roads,  in  number, 


68  PIONEER  ROADS 

kept  up  with  the  vast  increase  of  popula 
tion,  in  quality  they  remained,  as  a  rule, 
unchanged.  Traveling  by  stage,  except 
on  the  half  dozen  good  roads  then  in  exist 
ence,  was,  in  1825,  far  more  uncomfortable 
than  on  the  bridle-path  on  horseback  half 
a  century  previous.  It  would  be  the  same 
today  if  we  could  find  a  vehicle  as  inconve 
nient  as  an  old-time  stagecoach.  In  our 
* '  Experiences  of  Travelers ' '  we  shall  give 
pictures  of  actual  life  on  these  pioneer 
roads  of  early  days.  A  glimpse  or  two  at 
these  roads  will  not  be  out  of  place  here. 

The  route  from  Philadelphia  to  Balti 
more  is  thus  described  by  the  American 
Annual  Register  for  1796:  "  The  roads  from 
Philadelphia  to  Baltimore  exhibit,  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  way,  an  aspect  of 
savage  desolation.  Chasms  to  the  depth  of 
six,  eight,  or  ten  feet  occur  at  numerous 
intervals.  A  stagecoach  which  left  Phila 
delphia  on  the  5th  of  February,  1796,  took 
five  days  to  go  to  Baltimore.  [Twenty 
miles  a  day].  The  weather  for  the  first 
four  days  was  good.  The  roads  are  in  a 
fearful  condition.  Coaches  are  overturned, 
passengers  killed,  and  horses  destroyed  by 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  69 

the  overwork  put  upon  them.  In  winter 
sometimes  no  stage  sets  out  for  two  weeks." 
Little  wonder  that  in  1800,  when  President 
and  Mrs.  Adams  tried  to  get  to  Washing 
ton  from  Baltimore,  they  got  lost  in  the 
Maryland  woods !  Harriet  Martineau,  with 
her  usual  cleverness,  thus  touches  upon  our 
early  roads:  "  .  .  corduroy  roads  ap 
pear  to  have  made  a  deep  impression  on 
the  imaginations  of  the  English,  who  seem 
to  suppose  that  American  roads  are  all 
corduroy.  I  can  assure  them  that  there  is 
a  large  variety  in  American  roads.  There 
are  the  excellent  limestone  roads  . 
from  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  some  like 
them  in  Kentucky.  .  .  There  is  quite 
another  sort  of  limestone  road  in  Virginia, 
in  traversing  which  the  stage  is  dragged 
up  from  shelf  [catch -water]  to  shelf,  some 
of  the  shelves  sloping  so  as  to  throw  the 
passengers  on  one  another,  on  either  side 
alternately.  Then  there  are  the  rich  mud 
roads  of  Ohio,  through  whose  deep  red 
sloughs  the  stage  goes  slowly  sousing 
after  rain,  and  gently  upsetting  when  the 
rut  on  one  or  the  other  side  proves  to  be 
of  a  greater  depth  than  was  anticipated. 


70  PIONEER  ROADS 

Then  there  are  the  sandy  roads  of  the 
pine  barrens  .  .  the  ridge  road,  run 
ning  parallel  with  a  part  of  Lake  On 
tario.  .  .  Lastly  there  is  the  corduroy 
road,  happily  of  rare  occurrence,  where, 
if  the  driver  is  merciful  to  his  passengers, 
he  drives  them  so  as  to  give  them  the 
association  of  being  on  the  way  to  a  funeral, 
their  involuntary  sobs  on  each  jolt  helping 
the  resemblance;  or,  if  he  be  in  a  hurry, 
he  shakes  them  like  pills  in  a  pill-box.  I 
was  never  upset  in  a  stage  but  once  .  ; 
and  the  worse  the  roads  were,  the  more  I 
was  amused  at  the  variety  of  devices  by 
which  we  got  on,  through  difficulties  which 
appeared  insurmountable,  and  the  more  I 
was  edified  at  the  gentleness  with  which 
our  drivers  treated  female  fears  and  fret- 
fulness."13 

Perhaps  it  was  of   the  Virginian  roads 
here  mentioned  that  Thomas  Moore  wrote : 

"  Dear  George!  though  every  bone  is  aching, 

After  the  shaking 
I've  had  this  week,  over  ruts  and  ridges, 

And  bridges, 
Made  of  a  few  uneasy  planks, 

In  open  ranks 

'  13  Retrospect  of  Western  Travel,  vol.  i,  pp.  88-89. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  71 

Over  rivers  of  mud,  whose  names  alone 

Would  make  the  knees  of  stoutest  man  knock."  u 

David  Stevenson,  an  English  civil  engi 
neer,  leaves  this  record  of  a  corduroy  road 
from  Lake  Erie  to  Pittsburg:  "On  the 
road  leading  from  Pittsburg  on  the  Ohio 
to  the  town  of  Erie  on  the  lake  of  that 
name,  I  saw  all  the  varieties  of  forest 

14 Moore's  notes  are  as  follows: 

On  "  ridges  "  (line  3):  "  What  Mr.  Weld  [an  English 
traveler  in  America]  says  of  the  national  necessity  of 
balancing  or  trimming  the  stage,  in  passing  over  some 
of  the  wretched  roads  in  America,  is  by  no  means  exag 
gerated.  '  The  driver  frequently  had  to  call  to  the  pas 
sengers  in  the  stage  to  lean  out  of  the  carriage,  first  on 
one  side,  then  on  the  other,  to  prevent  it  from  over 
setting  in  the  deep  ruts,  with  which  the  road  abounds. 
"  Now,  gentlemen,  to  the  right!  "  upon  which  the  pas 
sengers  all  stretched  their  bodies  half  out  of  the  carriage 
to  balance  on  that  side.  "  Now,  gentlemen,  to  the  left!" 
and  so  on.' —  Weld's  Travels." 

On  "bridges"  (line  4):  "Before  the  stage  can  pass 
one  of  these  bridges  the  driver  is  obliged  to  stop  and 
arrange  the  loose  planks,  of  which  it  is  composed,  in  the 
manner  that  best  suits  his  [ideas  of  safety,  and  as  the 
planks  are  again  disturbed  by  the  passing  of  the  coach, 
the  next  travelers  who  arrive  have,  of  course,  a  new  ar 
rangement  to  make.  Mahomet,  as  Sale  tells  us,  was  at 
some  pains  to  imagine  a  precarious  kind  of  bridge  for  the 
entrance  of  paradise,  in  order  to  enhance  the  pleasures 
of  arrival.  A  Virginia  bridge,  I  think,  would  have 
answered  his  purpose  completely." 


72  PIONEER  ROADS 

road-making  in  great  perfection.  Some 
times  our  way  lay  for  miles  through  exten 
sive  marshes,  which  we  crossed  by  cordu 
roy  roads,  .  .  ;  at  others  the  coach 
stuck  fast  in  the  mud,  from  which  it  could 
be  extricated  only  by  the  combined  efforts 
of  the  coachman  and  passengers;  and  at 
one  place  we  travelled  for  upwards  of  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  through  a  forest  flooded 
with  water,  which  stood  to  the  height  of 
several  feet  on  many  of  the  trees,  and 
occasionally  covered  the  naves  of  the  coach- 
wheels.  The  distance  of  the  route  from 
Pittsburg  to  Erie  is  128  miles,  which  was 
accomplished  in  forty-six  hours  .  .  al 
though  the  conveyance  .  .  carried  the 
mail,  and  stopped  only  for  breakfast,  din 
ner,  and  tea,  but  there  was  considerable 
delay  caused  by  the  coach  being  once  upset 
and  several  times  mired."  15 

"The  horrible  corduroy  roads  again  made 
their  appearance,"  records  Captain  Basil 
Hall,  "  in  a  more  formidable  shape,  by  the 
addition  of  deep,  inky  holes,  which  almost 
swallowed  up  the  fore  wheels  of  the  wagon 

16  Sketch  of  the  Civil  Engineering  of  North  America, 
pp.  132-133. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  73 

and  bathed  its  hinder  axle-tree.  The  jog 
ging  and  plunging  to  which  we  were  now 
exposed,  and  occasionally  the  bang  when 
the  vehicle  reached  the  bottom  of  one  of 
these  abysses,  were  so  new  and  remarkable 
that  we  tried  to  make  a  good  joke  of 
them.  .  .  I  shall  not  compare  this  even 
ing's  drive  to  trotting  up  or  down  a  pair  of 
stairs,  for,  in  that  case,  there  would  be 
some  kind  of  regularity  in  the  development 
of  the  bumps,  but  with  us  there  was  no 
wavering,  no  pause,  and  when  we  least 
expected  a  jolt,  down  we  went,  smack! 
dash!  crash!  forging,  like  a  ship  in  a 
head-sea,  right  into  a  hole  half  a  yard 
deep.  At  other  times,  when  an  ominous 
break  in  the  road  seemed  to  indicate  the 
coming  mischief,  and  we  clung,  grinning 
like  grim  death,  to  the  railing  at  the  sides 
of  the  wagon,  expecting  a  concussion  which 
in  the  next  instant  was  to  dislocate  half 
the  joints  in  our  bodies,  down  we  sank 
into  a  bed  of  mud,  as  softly  as  if  the  bot 
tom  and  sides  had  been  padded  for  our 
express  accommodation. ' ' 

The  first  and  most  interesting  macadam- 


74  PIONEER  ROADS 

ized  road  in  the  United  States  was  the  old 
Lancaster  Turnpike,  running  from  Phila 
delphia  to  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  Its 
position  among  American  roads  is  such  that 
it  deserves  more  than  a  mere  mention. 
It  has  had  several  historians,  as  it  well 
deserves,  to  whose  accounts  we  are  largely 
indebted  for  much  of  our  information.16 

The  charter  name  of  this  road  was  ' '  The 
Philadelphia  and  Lancaster  Turnpike  Road 
Company;"  it  was  granted  April  9,  1792, 
and  the  work  of  building  immediately 
began.  The  road  was  completed  in  1794 
at  a  cost  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand  dollars.  When  the  subscription 
books  were  opened  there  was  a  tremendous 
rush  to  take  the  stock.  The  money  raised 
for  constructing  and  equipping  this  ancient 
highway  with  toll  houses  and  bridges,  as 
well  as  grading  and  macadamizing  it,  was 
by  this  sale  of  stock.  In  the  Lancaster 
Journal  of  Friday,  February  5,  1796,  the 
following  notice  appeared: 

16 "  The  Oldest  Turnpike  in  Pennsylvania,"  by  Ed 
ward  B.  Moore,  in  Philadelphia  Press  or  Delaware 
County  American,  June  22,  1901;  and  "  The  Old  Turn 
pike,"  by  A.  E.  Witmer  in  Lancaster  County  Historical 
Society  Papers,  vol.  ii  (November,  1897),  pp.  67-86. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  75 

"  That  agreeable  to  a  by-law  of  stock 
holders,  subscriptions  will  be  opened  at  the 
Company's  office  in  Philadelphia  on  Wed 
nesday,  the  tenth  of  February  next,  for 
one  hundred  additional  shares  of  capital 
stock  in  said  company.  The  sum  to  be 
demanded  for  each  share  will  be  $300, 
with  interest  at  six  per  cent,  on  the  different 
instalments  from  the  time  they  are  sever 
ally  called  for,  to  be  paid  by  original  stock 
holders  ;  one  hundred  dollars  thereof  to  be 
paid  at  time  of  subscribing,  and  the  re 
mainder  in  three  qual  payments,  at  30,  60 
and  90  days,  no  person  to  be  admitted  to 
subscribe  more  than  one  share  on  the 
same  day. 

By  order  of  the  Board. 

WILLIAM  GOVETT, 

Secretary." 

"  When  location  was  fully  determined 
upon,"  writes  Mr.  Witmer,  "  as  you  will 
observe,  today,  a  more  direct  line  could 
scarcely  have  been  selected.  Many  of  the 
curves  which  are  found  at  the  present  time 
did  not  exist  at  that  day,  for  it  has  been 
crowded  and  twisted  by  various  improve 
ments  along  its  borders  so  that  the  original 


76  PIONEER  ROADS 

constructors  are  not  responsible.  So 
straight,  indeed,  was  it  from  initial  to 
terminal  point  that  it  was  remarked  by  one 
of  the  engineers  of  the  state  railroad,  con 
structed  in  1834  (and  now  known  as  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad),  that  it  was  with 
the  greatest  difficulty  that  they  kept  their 
line  off  of  the  turnpike,  and  the  subsequent 
experiences  of  the  engineers  of  the  same 
company  verify  the  fact,  as  you  will  see. 
Today  there  is  a  tendency,  wherever  the 
line  is  straightened,  to  draw  nearer  to  this 
old  highway,  paralleling  it  in  many  places 
for  quite  a  distance,  and  as  it  approaches 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  one  or  two 
instances  they  have  occupied  the  old  road 
bed  entirely,  quietly  crowding  its  old  rival 
to  a  side,  and  crossing  and  recrossing  it  in 
many  places. 

* '  You  will  often  wonder  as  you,  pass  over 
this  highway,  remembering  the  often- 
stated  fact  by  some  ancient  wagoner  or 
stage- driver  (who  today  is  scarcely  to  be 
found,  most  of  them  having  thrown  down 
the  reins  and  put  up  for  the  night),  that  at 
that  time  there  were  almost  continuous 
lines  of  Conestoga  wagons,  with  their 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  77 

feed  troughs  suspended  at  the  rear  and  the 
tar  can  swinging  underneath,  toiling  up 
the  long  hills  (for  you  will  observe  there 
was  very  little  grading  done  when  that 
roadway  was  constructed),  and  you  wonder 
how  it  was  possible  to  accommodate  so 
much  traffic  as  there  was,  in  addition  to 
stagecoaches  and  private  conveyances, 
winding  in  and  out  among  these  long  lines 
of  wagons.  But  you  must  bear  in  mind 
that  the  roadway  was  very  different  then 
from  what  it  is  at  the  present  time. 

"  The  narrow,  macadamized  surface, 
with  its  long  grassy  slope  (the  delight  of 
the  tramp  and  itinerant  merchant,  especially 
when  a  neighboring  tree  casts  a  cooling 
shadow  over  its  surface),  which  same  slope 
becomes  a  menace  to  belated  and  unfamiliar 
travelers  on  a  dark  night,  threatening  them 
with  an  overturn  into  what  of  more  recent 
times  is  known  as  the  Summer  road,  did 
not  exist  at  that  time,  but  the  road  had  a 
regular  slope  from  side  ditch  to  center,  as 
all  good  roads  should  have,  and  convey 
ances  could  pass  anywhere  from  side  to 
side.  The  macadam  was  carefully  broken 
and  no  stone  was  allowed  to  be  placed  on 


78  PIONEER  ROADS 

the  road  that  would  not  pass  through  a 
two-inch  ring.  A  test  was  made  which 
can  be  seen  today  about  six  miles  east  of 
Lancaster,  where  the  roadway  was  regularly 
paved  for  a  distance  of  one  hundred  feet 
from  side  to  side,  with  a  view  of  construct 
ing  the  entire  line  in  that  way.  But  it 
proved  too  expensive,  and  was  abandoned. 
Day,  in  his  history,  published  in  i843,17 
makes  mention  of  the  whole  roadway  hav 
ing  been  so  constructed,  but  I  think  that 
must  have  been  an  error,  as  this  is  the 
only  point  where  there  is  any  appearance 
of  this  having  been  attempted,  and  can  be 
seen  at  the  present  time  when  the  upper 
surface  has  been  worn  off  by  the  passing 
and  repassing  over  it." 

The  placing  of  tollgates  on  the  Lancas 
ter  Pike  is  thus  announced  in  the  Lancas 
ter  Journal,  previously  mentioned,  where 
the  following  notice  appears: 

4<  The  public  are  hereby  informed  that 
the  President  and  Managers  of  the  Phila 
delphia  and  Lancaster  Turnpike  Road  hav 
ing  perfected  the  very  arduous  and  import- 

17  Sherman  Day,  Historical  Collections  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  (Philadelphia,  1843). 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  79 

ant  work  entrusted  by  the  stockholders  to 
their  direction,  have  established  toll  gates  at 
the  following  places  on  said  road,  and  have 
appointed  a  toll  gatherer  at  each  gate,  and 
that  the  rates  of  toll  to  be  collected  at  the 
several  gates  are  by  resolution  of  the 
Board  and  agreeable  to  Act  of  Assembly 
fixed  and  established  as  below.  The  total 
distance  from  Lancaster  to  Philadelphia  is 
62  miles. 

Gate  No.  i—  2  miles  W  from  Schuylkill, collect  smiles 
Gate  No.  2 —  5  miles  W  from  Schuylkill, collect  5  miles 
Gate  No.  3—10  miles  W  from  Schuylkill,  collect  7  miles 
Gate  No.  4 — 20  miles  W  from  Schuylkill,  collect  10  miles 
Gate  No.  5 — 29^  miles  W  from  Schuylkill, collect  10  miles 
Gate  No.  6 — 40  miles  W  from  Schuylkill,  collect  10  miles 
Gate  No.  7 — 49  #  miles  W  from  Schuylkill,  collect  10  miles 
Gate  No.  8—58^  miles  W  from  Schuylkill, collect  5  miles 
Gate  No.  9 — Witmer's  Bridge,  collect  61  miles." 

There  is  also  in  the  same  journal,  bearing 
date  January  22,  1796,  the  following  notice: 

"  Sec.  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  by 
authority  of  aforesaid,  that  no  wagon  or 
other  carriage  with  wheels  the  breadth  of 
whose  wheels  shall  not  be  four  inches, 
shall  be  driven  along  said  road  between 
the  first  day  of  December  and  the  first  day 
of  May  following  in  any  year  or  years,  with 


80  I'lONKKK   ROADS 

a  greater  weight  thereon  than  two  ami  a 
half  tons,  or  with  more  than  three  tons 
during  the  rest  of  the  year;  that  no  such 
carriage,  the  breadth  of  whose  wheels 
shall  not  be  seven  inches,  or  being  six 
inches  or  more  shall  roll  at  least  ten 
inches,  shall  be  drawn  alon^  said  road 
between  the  said  day  of  December  and 
May  with  more  than  live  tons,  or  with 
more  than  five  and  a  half  tons  during  the 
rest  of  the  year;  that  no  carriage  or  cart 
with  two  wheels,  the  breadth  of  whose' 
wheels  shall  not  be  four  inches,  shall  be 
drawn  along  said  road  with  a  greater 
weight  thereon  than  one  and  a  quarter  tons 
between  the  said  first  days  of  December 
and  May,  or  with  more  than  one  and  a  half 
tons  during  the  rest  of  the  year ;  no  such 

carriage,     whose    wheels    shall    be    of     the 

breadth  of  seven  inches  shall  be  driven 

along  the    said    road    with    more    than    two 

and  one  half  tons  between  the  first  days  of 
December  and  May,  or  more  than  three 
tons  during  the  rest  of  the  year ;  that  no 
such  carriage  whose  wheels  shall  not  be  ten 
inches  in  width  shall  be  drawn  along  the 
said  road  between  the  first  days  of  Decem- 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  >J 

ber  and  May  with  more  than  three  and  a 
half  tons,  or  with  more  than  four  tons  the 
rest  of  the  year;  that  no  cart,  wagon  or 
carriage  of  burden  whatever,  whose  wheels 
shall  not  be  the  breadth  of  nine  inches  at 
least,  shall  be  drawn  or  pass  in  or  over  the 
laid  road  or  any  part  thereof  with  more 
than  six  horses,  nor  shall  more  than  eight 
horse*  be  attached  to  any  carriage  whatso- 
ever  used  on  said  road,  and  if  any  wagon 
or  other  carriage  shall  be  drawn  along  said 
road  by  a  greater  number  of  hone*  or  with 
a  greater  weight  than  is  hereby  permitted, 
one  of  the  horses  attached  thereto  shall  be 
forfeited  to  the  use  of  said  company,  to  be 
seized  and  taken  by  any  of  their  officers  or 
servants,  who  shall  have  the  privilege  to 
choose  which  of  the  said  horses  they  may 
think  proper,  excepting  the  shaft  or  wheel 
horse  or  horses,  provided  always  that  it 
shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  said  company 
by  their  by-laws  to  alter  any  and  all  of  the 
regulations  here  contained  respecting  bur 
dens  or  carriages  to  be  drawn  over  the  said 
road  and  substituting  other  regulations,  if 
on  experience  such  alterations  should  be 
found  conducive  of  public  good." 


82  PIONEER  ROADS 

There  were  regular  warehouses  or  freight 
stations  in  the  various  towns  through  which 
the  Lancaster  Pike  passed,  Mr.  Witmer 
leaves  record,  where  experienced  loaders 
or  packers  were  to  be  found  who  attended 
to  filling  these  great  curving  wagons, 
which  were  elevated  at  each  end  and  de 
pressed  in  the  centre ;  and  it  was  quite  an 
art  to  be  able  to  so  pack  them  with  the 
various  kinds  of  merchandise  that  they 
would  carry  safely,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  economize  all  the  room  necessary;  and 
when  fully  loaded  and  ready  for  the  journey 
it  was  no  unusual  case  for  the  driver  to  be 
appealed  to  by  some  one  who  wished  to 
follow  Horace  Greeley's  advice  and  "go 
west,"  for  permission  to  accompany  him 
and  earn  a  seat  on  the  load,  as  well  as 
share  his  mattress  on  the  barroom  floor  at 
night  by  tending  the  lock  or  brake.  Mr. 
Witmer  was  told  by  one  of  the  largest  and 
wealthiest  iron  masters  of  Pittsburg  that 
his  first  advent  to  the  Smoky  City  was  on  a 
load  of  salt  in  that  capacity. 

11  In  regard  to  the  freight  or  transporta 
tion  companies,"  continues  the  annalist, 
"  the  Line  Wagon  Company  was  the  most 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  83 

prominent.  Stationed  along  this  highway 
at  designated  points  were  drivers  and  horses, 
and  it  was  their  duty  to  be  ready  as  soon 
as  a  wagon  was  delivered  at  the  beginning 
of  their  section  to  use  all  despatch  in  for 
warding  it  to  the  next  one,  thereby  losing 
no  time  required  to  rest  horses  and  driver, 
which  would  be  required  when  the  same 
driver  and  horses  took  charge  of  it  all  the 
way  through.  But,  like  many  similar 
schemes,  what  appeared  practical  in  theory 
did  not  work  well  in  practice.  Soon  the 
wagons  were  neglected,  each  section  caring 
only  to  deliver  it  to  the  one  succeeding, 
caring  little  as  to  its  condition,  and  soon  the 
roadside  was  encumbered  with  wrecks  and 
breakdowns  and  the  driver  and  horses 
passed  to  and  fro  without  any  wagon  or 
freight  from  terminal  points  of  their  sec 
tions,  leaving  the  wagons  and  freight  to  be 
cared  for  by  others  more  anxious  for  its 
removal  than  those  directly  in  charge.  So 
it  was  deemed  best  to  return  to  the  old  sys 
tem  of  making  each  driver  responsible  for 
his  own  wagon  and  outfit. 

"  A    wagoner,    next    to    a    stagecoach- 
driver,  was  a  man  of  immense  importance, 


84  PIONEER  ROADS 

and  they  were  inclined  to  be  clannish. 
They  would  not  hesitate  to  unite  against 
landlord,  stage-driver  or  coachman  who 
might  cross  their  path,  as  in  a  case  when  a 
wedding  party  was  on  its  way  to  Philadel 
phia,  which  consisted  of  several  gigs. 
These  were  two-wheeled  conveyances,  very 
similar  to  our  road-carts  of  the  present 
day,  except  that  they  were  much  higher 
and  had  large  loop  springs  in  the  rear  just 
back  of  the  seat ;  they  were  the  fashionable 
conveyance  of  that  day.  When  one  of  the 
gentlemen  drivers,  the  foremost  one  (pos 
sibly  the  groom),  was  paying  more  attention 
to  his  fair  companion  than  his  horses,  he 
drove  against  the  leaders  of  one  of  the 
numerous  wagons  that  were  passing  on  in 
the  same  direction.  It  was  an  unpardon 
able  offense  and  nothing  short  of  an  encoun 
ter  in  the  stable  yard  or  in  front  of  the 
hotel  could  atone  for  such  a  breach  of  high 
way  ethics.  At  a  point  where  the  party 
stopped  to  rest  before  continuing  their 
journey  the  wagoners  overtook  them  and 
they  immediately  called  on  the  gentleman 
for  redress.  But  seeing  a  friend  in  the 
party  they  claimed  they  would  excuse  the 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  85 

culprit  on  his  friend's  account ;  the  offend 
ing  party  would  not  have  it  so,  and  said 
no  friend  of  his  should  excuse  him  from 
getting  a  beating  if  he  deserved  it,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  he  prided  himself  on  his 
muscular  abilities  also.  However  it  was 
peaceably  arranged  and  each  pursued  his 
way  without  any  blood  being  shed  or  bones 
broken.  That  was  one  of  the  many  simi 
lar  occurrences  which  happened  daily, 
many  not  ending  so  harmlessly. 

"  The  stage  lines  were  not  only  the 
means  of  conveying  the  mails  and  passen 
gers,  but  of  also  disseminating  the  news  of 
great  events  along  the  line  as  they  passed. 
The  writer  remembers  hearing  it  stated 
that  the  stage  came  through  from  Philadel 
phia  with  a  wide  band  of  white  muslin 
bound  around  the  top,  and  in  large  letters 
was  the  announcement  that  peace  had  been 
declared,  which  was  the  closing  of  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain,  known  as 
the  War  of  1812.  What  rejoicing  it  caused 
along  the  way  as  it  passed!" 

The  taverns  of  this  old  turnpike  were 
typical.  Of  them  Mr.  Moore  writes : 

"  Independent  of   the  heavy  freighting, 


86  PIONEER  ROADS 

numerous  stage  lines  were  organized  for 
carrying  passengers.  As  a  result  of  this 
immense  traffic,  hotels  sprung  up  all  along 
the  road,  where  relays  of  horses  were  kept, 
and  where  passengers  were  supplied  with 
meals.  Here,  too,  the  teamsters  found 
lodging  and  their  animals  were  housed  and 
cared  for  over  night.  The  names  of  these 
hotels  were  characteristic  of  the  times. 
Many  were  called  after  men  who  had  borne 
conspicuous  parts  in  the  Revolutionary 
War  that  had  just  closed  —  such  as  Wash 
ington,  Warren,  Lafayette,  and  Wayne, 
while  others  represented  the  White  and 
Black  Horse,  the  Lion,  Swan,  Cross  Keys, 
Ship,  etc.  They  became  favorite  resorts 
for  citizens  of  their  respective  neighbor 
hoods,  who  wished  at  times  to  escape  from 
the  drudge  and  ennui  of  their  rural  homes 
and  gaze  upon  the  world  as  represented  by 
the  dashing  stages  and  long  lines  of  Cones- 
toga  wagons.  Here  neighbor  met  neigh 
bor —  it  was  the  little  sphere  in  which 
they  all  moved,  lived  and  had  their  being. 
They  sipped  their  whisky  toddies  together, 
which  were  dispensed  at  the  rate  of  three 
cents  a  single  glass,  or  for  a  finer  quality, 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  89 

five  for  a  Spanish  quarter,  with  the  land 
lord  in,  was  asked;  smoked  cigars  that 
were  retailed  four  for  a  cent  —  discussed 
their  home  affairs,  including  politics,  re 
ligion  and  other  questions  of  the  day,  and 
came  just  as  near  settling  them,  as  the 
present  generation  of  men,  that  are  filling 
their  places,  required  large  supplies  and 
made  convenient  home  markets  for  the  sale 
of  butter,  eggs,  and  whatever  else  the 
farmers  had  to  dispose  of." 

In  our  history  of  the  Cumberland  Road 
the  difference  between  a  wagonhouse  and 
a  tavern  was  emphasized.  Mr.  Witmer 
gives  an  incident  on  the  Lancaster  Turn 
pike  which  presents  vividly  the  social 
position  of  these  two  houses  of  entertain 
ment:  "  It  was  considered  a  lasting  dis 
grace  for  one  of  the  stage  taverns  to  enter 
tain  a  wagoner  and  it  was  sure  to  lose  the 
patronage  of  the  better  class  of  travel, 
should  this  become  known.  The  following 
instance  will  show  how  carefully  the  line 
was  drawn.  In  the  writer's  native  village, 
about  ten  miles  east  of  this  city  [Lancas 
ter],  when  the  traffic  was  unusually  heavy 
and  all  the  wagon  taverns  were  full,  a 


90  PIONEER  ROADS 

wagoner  applied  to  the  proprietor  of  the 
stage  hotel  for  shelter  and  refreshment, 
and  after  a  great  deal  of  consideration  on 
his  part  and  persuasion  on  the  part  of  the 
wagoner  he  consented,  provided  the  guest 
would  take  his  departure  early  in  the  morn 
ing,  before  there  was  any  likelihood  of  any 
aristocratic  arrivals,  or  the  time  for  the 
stage  to  arrive  at  this  point.  As  soon  as 
he  had  taken  his  departure  the  hostlers 
and  stable  boys  were  put  to  work  to  clean 
up  every  vestige  of  straw  or  litter  in  front 
of  the  hotel  that  would  be  an  indication  of 
having  entertained  a  wagoner  over  night!  " 

The  later  history  of  the  turnpike  has 
been  sketched  by  Mr.  Moore  as  follows : 

"  The  turnpike  company  had  enjoyed  an 
uninterrupted  era  of  prosperity  for  more 
than  twenty-five  years.  During  this  time 
the  dividends  paid  had  been  liberal  —  some 
times,  it  is  said,  exceeding  fifteen  per  cent 
of  the  capital  invested.  But  at  the  end  of 
that  time  the  parasite  that  destroys  was 
gradually  being  developed.  Another,  and 
altogether  new  system  of  transportation 
had  been  invented  —  a  railroad  —  and  which 
had  already  achieved  partial  success  in 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  91 

some  places  in  Europe.  It  was  about  the 
year  1820  that  this  new  method  of  trans 
portation  began  to  claim  the  serious  atten 
tion  of  the  progressive  business  men 
throughout  the  state.  The  feeling  that 
some  better  system  than  the  one  in  use 
must  be  found  was  fed  and  intensified  by 
the  fact  that  New  York  State  was  then 
constructing  a  canal  from  Albany  to  the 
lakes;  that  when  completed  it  would  give 
the  business  men  of  New  York  City  an 
unbroken  water  route  to  the  west.  .  . 

"  With  the  completion  of  the  entire 
Pennsylvania  canal  system  to  Pittsburg, 
in  1834,  the  occupation  of  the  famous  old 
Conestoga  teams  was  gone.18  The  same 
may  also  be  said  of  the  numerous  lines  of 
the  stages  that  daily  wended  their  way  over 
the  turnpike.  The  changes  wrought  were 
almost  magical.  Everyone  who  rode  pat 
ronized  the  cars;  and  the  freight  was  also 
forwarded  by  rail.  The  farmers,  however, 
were  not  ruined  as  they  had  maintained 
they  would  be.  Their  horses,  as  well  as 

18  The  rise  of  the  Pennsylvania  canal  and  railway 
system  will  be  treated  in  chapter  four  of  Historic  High 
ways  of  America,  vol.  xiii. 


92  PIONEER  ROADS 

drivers,  were  at  once  taken  into  the  railway 
service  and  employed  in  drawing  cars  from 
one  place  to  another.  It  was  simply  a 
change  of  vocation,  and  there  still  remained 
a  market  for  grain,  hay,  straw  and  other 
produce  of  the  farm. 

"  The  loss  sustained  by  the  holders  of 
turnpike  stock,  however,  was  immeasur 
able.  In  a  comparative  sense,  travel  over 
the  turnpike  road  was  suspended.  Receipts 
from  tolls  became  very  light  and  the  divi 
dends,  when  paid,  were  not  only  quite 
diminutive,  but  very  far  between. 

"  The  officers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail 
road  Company  have  always  been  noted  for 
their  foresight,  as  well  as  shrewdness  in 
protecting  the  business  interests  of  their 
organization  —  and  none  have  given  more 
substantial  evidence  of  these  traits  than  its 
present  chief  officer,  Mr.  Alexander  Cassatt. 
In  the  year  1876  the  horse  cars  had  been 
extended  as  far  west  as  the  Centennial 
buildings  and  it  became  apparent  in  a  year 
or  two  thereafter  that  they  might  be  still 
further  extended  over  the  turnpike  in  the 
direction  of  Paoli  and  thus  become  an 
annoying  competitor  for  the  local  travel, 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  93 

which  had  been  carefully  nurtured  and 
built  up  by  the  efforts  of  the  railroad  com 
pany.  Under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Cas- 
satt  a  company  was  organized  to  purchase 
the  road.  When  all  the  preliminaries  had 
been  arranged  a  meeting  of  the  subscribers 
to  the  purchasing  fund  was  held  on  the 
twentieth  day  of  April,  1880.  The  turn 
pike  was  purchased  from  Fifty- second 
Street  to  Paoli,  about  seventeen  miles,  for 
the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  In  the 
following  June  a  charter  was  secured  for 
the  '  Lancaster  Avenue  Improvement  Com 
pany,'  and  Mr.  Cassatt  was  chosen  presi 
dent.  The  horse  railroad  was  thus  shut  off 
from  a  further  extension  over  the  old  turn 
pike.  The  new  purchasers  rebuilt  the  en 
tire  seventeen  miles  and  there  is  today 
probably  no  better  macadam  road  in  the 
United  States,  nor  one  more  scrupulously 
maintained  than  by  '  The  Lancaster  Avenue 
Improvement  Company.'  Some  parts  of 
the  turnpike  road  finally  became  so  much 
out  of  repair  that  the  traveling  public 
refused  to  longer  pay  the  tolls  demanded. 
This  was  the  case  on  that  portion  of  the 
road  lying  between  Paoli  and  Exton,  a 


94  PIONEER  ROADS 

distance  of  some  eight  and  a  half  miles. 
It  traversed  parts  of  the  townships  of 
Willistown  and  East  and  West  Whiteland, 
in  Chester  County  and  upon  notice  of  aban 
donment  being  served  in  1880  upon  the 
supervisors  of  these  townships,  those  officials 
assumed  the  future  care  of  the  road.  The 
turnpike  was  also  abandoned  from  the 
borough  of  Coatesville  to  the  Lancaster 
County  line,  a  distance  of  about  eight  and 
one-half  miles.  This  left  only  that  portion 
of  the  turnpike  lying  between  Exton  station 
and  the  borough  of  Coatesville,  a  distance 
of  some  ten  miles,  under  control  of  the  old 
company,  and  upon  which  tollgates  were 
maintained.  The  road  was  in  a  wretched 
repair  and  many  persons  driving  over  it 
refused  to  pay  when  tolls  were  demanded. 
The  company,  however,  continued  to  em 
ploy  collectors  and  gather  shekels  from 
those  who  were  willing  to  pay  and  suffer 
ing  those  to  pass  who  refused. 

"  Thus  the  old  company  worried  along 
and  maintained  its  organization  until  1899, 
when  the  '  Philadelphia  and  West  Chester 
Traction  Company,'  made  its  appearance. 
This  company  thought  it  saw  an  oppor- 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  95 

tunity  to  extend  the  railroad  west  over  the 
turnpike  at  least  as  far  as  Downingtown,  and 
possibly  as  far  as  the  borough  of  Coates- 
ville.  Terms  were  finally  agreed  upon 
with  the  president  of  the  Turnpike  Com 
pany,  and  all  the  rights,  titles  and  interests 
in  the  road  then  held  by  the  original  Turn 
pike  Company,  and  which  embraced  that 
portion  lying  between  Exton  and  the 
borough  of  Coatesville,  were  transferred  to 
Mr.  A.  M.  Taylor,  as  trustee,  for  ten  dollars 
per  share.  The  original  issue  was  twelve 
hundred  shares.  It  was  estimated  that  at 
least  two  hundred  shares  would  not  ma 
terialize,  being  either  lost  or  kept  as 
souvenirs.  The  length  of  the  road  secured 
was  about  ten  miles.  The  disposition  of 
the  old  road  may  be  enumerated  as  follows : 

SOLD 

To  Hestonville  Railroad  .         .     3  $10,000 

To  Lancaster  and  Williamstown 

Turnpike  Company        .         .15      10,000 

To  Lancaster  Avenue  Improve 
ment  Company       .          .          .17     20,000 

To  A.  M.  Taylor,  trustee  (esti 
mated)  .         .         .         .10     10,000 
Total  miles  sold     .         .         .45 
Total  purchase  money  received      $50,000 


96  PIONEER  ROADS 

ABANDONED 

Paoli  to  Exton  .         .         . 

Coatesville  to  Lancaster  Company  line 

Total  miles  abandoned  .         .     17 

"  The  distance  from  Coatesville  to  Phila 
delphia,  via  Whitford,  a  station  on  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  ten  miles  east  of 
Coatesville,  thence  to  West  Chester  and 
over  the  electric  road,  is  somewhat  less  than 
by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  Immedi 
ately  after  the  purchase,  Mr.  Taylor  an 
nounced  that  it  was  the  intention  of  his 
company  to  extend  their  road  to  Downing- 
town,  and,  possibly,  to  Coatesville.  But  a 
charter  for  a  trolley  road  does  not  carry 
with  it  the  right  of  eminent  domain.  Upon 
investigation,  Mr.  Taylor  discovered  that 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  owned 
property  on  both  sides  of  the  purchased 
turnpike,  and  that  without  the  consent  of 
that  organization  a  trolley  road  could  not 
be  laid  over  the  turnpike.  He  further 
discovered  that  at  a  point  west  of  Downing- 
town  the  railroad  company,  in  connection 
with  one  of  its  employees,  owned  a  strip 
of  land  extending  from  the  Valley  Hill  on 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  87 

the  north  to  the  Valley  Hill  on  the  south. 
The  proposed  extension  of  the  trolley 
road,  therefore,  had  to  be  abandoned. 

"  As  the  turnpike  road  could  not  be  used 
by  the  new  purchasers  for  the  purposes  in 
tended,  it  was  a  useless  and  annoying  piece 
of  property  in  their  hands.  A  petition  has 
already  [1901]  been  filed  in  the  Court  of 
Quarter  Sessions  of  Chester  County  look 
ing  toward  having  the  road  condemned. 
Judge  Hemphill  has  appointed  jurors  to 
view  the  said  turnpike  road  and  fix  the 
damages  that  may  be  due  the  present 
owners.  Whatever  damages  may  finally 
be  agreed  upon  the  county  of  Chester  must 
pay,  and  the  supervisors  of  the  different 
townships  through  which  the  road  passes 
will  thereafter  assume  its  care.  This  will 
probably  be  the  last  official  act  in  which 
the  title  of  the  old  organization  will  partici 
pate.  '  Men  may  come  and  men  may  go/ 
and  changes  be  made  both  in  ownership 
and  purposes  of  use,  but  whatever  the 
future  may  have  in  store  for  this  grand 
old  public  highway,  the  basic  principle 
will  always  be :  '  The  Old  Philadelphia  and 
Lancaster  Turnpike ; '  and  as  such  forever 


98  PIONEER  ROADS 

remain  a  lasting  monument  to  the  courage 
ous,  progressive,  and  patriotic  men  whose 
capital  entered  into  and  made  its  construc 
tion  possible." 

The  principal  rivals  of  the  macadamized 
roads  were  the  plank  roads.  The  first 
plank  road  in  America  was  built  at  Toronto, 
Canada,  in  1835-36,  during  Sir  Francis 
Bond  Head's  governorship.  It  was  an 
experiment  and  one  Darcy  Boulton  is  said 
to  have  been  the  originator  of  the  plan.18* 

In  1 837  this  method  of  road-building  was 
introduced  into  the  United  States,  Syracuse, 
New  York,  possessing  the  first  plank  road 
this  side  the  Canadian  border.  In  fifteen 
years  there  were  two  thousand  one  hundred 
and  six  miles  of  these  roads  in  New  York 
State  alone,  and  the  system  had  spread 
widely  through  the  more  prosperous  and 
energetic  states.  Usually  these  roads  were 
single-track,  the  track  being  built  on  the 
left  hand  side  of  the  roadway;  the  latter 
became  known  as  the  "turn-out."  The 
planks,  measuring  eight  inches  by  three, 

18  *For  these  and  other  facts  concerning  plank  roads 
we  are  indebted  to  W.  Kingsford's  History,  Structure 
and  Statistics  of  Plank  Roads  (1852). 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  99 

were  laid  on  stringers,  these,  in  turn,  rest 
ing  on  a  more  or  less  elaborately  made  bed. 
The  average  cost  of  plank  roads  in  New 
York  was  a  trifle  less  than  two  thousand 
dollars  per  mile.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  Cumberland  Road  cost  on  the 
average  over  ten  thousand  dollars  per  mile 
in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  and  three 
thousand  four  hundred  dollars  per  mile 
west  of  the  Ohio  River.  Its  estimated  cost 
per  mile,  without  bridging,  was  six  thou 
sand  dollars.  It  was  natural,  therefore, 
that  plank  roads  should  become  popular  — 
for  the  country  was  still  a  "  wooden 
country,"  as  the  pioneers  said.  It  was 
argued  that  the  cost  was  ' '  infinitely 
less  — that  it  [plank  road]  is  easier  for 
the  horse  to  draw  upon  —  and  that  such  a 
road  costs  less  for  repairs  and  is  more  dur 
able  than  a  Macadam  road.  .  .  On  the 
Salina  and  Central  road,  a  few  weeks  back, 
for  a  wager,  a  team  [two  horses]  brought 
in,  without  any  extraordinary  strain,  six 
tons  of  iron  from  Brewerton,  a  distance  of 
twelve  miles,  to  Syracuse  [New  York].  .  . 
Indeed,  the  farmer  does  not  seem  to  make 
any  calculations  of  the  weight  taken.  He 


100  PIONEER  ROADS 

loads  his  wagon  as  best  he  can,  and  the 
only  care  is  not  to  exceed  the  quantity 
which  it  will  carry;  whether  the  team  can 
draw  the  load,  is  not  a  consideration.  .  ." 
Such  arguments  prevailed  in  the  day  when 
timber  was  considered  almost  a  nuisance, 
and  plank  roads  spread  far  and  wide. 

Few  who  were  acquainted  with  primitive 
conditions  have  left  us  anything  vivid  in 
the  way  of  descriptions  of  roads  and  road- 
making.  "  The  pioneers  of  our  State," 
wrote  Calvin  Fletcher,  in  an  exceedingly 
interesting  paper  read  before  the  Indiana 
Centennial  Association,  July  4,  1900,* 'found 
Indian  trails,  which,  with  widening,  proved 
easy  lines  of  travel.  Many  of  these  after 
ward  became  fixtures  through  use,  improve 
ment,  and  legislation.  .  .  Next  to  the 
hearty  handshake  and  ready  lift  at  the 
handspike,  where  neighbors  swapped  work 
at  log-rollings,  was  the  greeting  when,  at 
fixed  periods,  all  able-bodied  men  met  to 
open  up  or  work  upon  the  roads.  My  child- 
feet  pattered  along  many  of  the  well-con 
structed  thoroughfares  of  today  when  they 
were  only  indistinct  tracings  —  long  lines 
of  deadened  trees,  deep-worn  horse  paths, 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  101 

and  serpentine  tracks  of  wabbling  wagon 
wheels.  The  ever-recurring  road- working 
days  and  their  cheerful  observance,  with 
time's  work  in  rotting  and  fire's  work  in 
removing  dead  tree  and  stump,  at  last  let  in 
long  lines  of  sunshine  to  dry  up  the  mud, 
to  burn  up  the  miasma,  and  to  bless  the 
wayfarer  to  other  parts,  as  well  as  to  dis 
close  what  these  pioneer  road-makers  had 
done  for  themselves  by  opening  up  fields  in 
the  forests.  .  .  To  perfect  easily  and 
naturally  these  industries  requires  three 
generations.  The  forests  must  be  felled, 
logs  rolled  and  burned,  families  reared, 
and  in  most  cases  the  land  to  be  paid  for. 
When  this  is  accomplished  a  faithful  pic 
ture  would  reveal  not  only  the  changes 
that  had  been  wrought,  but  a  host  of 
prematurely  broken  down  men  and  women, 
besides  an  undue  proportion  resting  peace 
fully  in  country  graveyards.  A  second 
generation  straightens  out  the  fields  at  odd 
corners,  pulls  the  stumps,  drains  the  wet 
spots,  and  casting  aside  the  sickle  of  their 
father,  swings  the  cradle  over  broader 
fields ;  and  even  trenches  upon  the  plans  of 
the  third  generation  by  pushing  the  claim 


102  PIONEER  ROADS 

of  the  reaper,  the  mower  and  the 
thresher.  .  .  The  labor  of  the  three 
generations  in  road-making  I  class  as  fol 
lows:  To  the  first  generation  belonged 
locating  the  roads  and  the  clearing  the  tim 
ber  from  them.  The  wet  places  would 
become  miry  and  were  repaired  by  the  use 
of  logs.  .  .  The  roots  and  stumps  caused 
many  holes,  called  chuck  holes,  which 
were  repaired  by  using  brush  and  dirt  — 
with  the  uniform  result  that  at  each  end  of 
the  corduroy  or  brush  repairs,  a  new  mud 
or  chuck  hole  would  be  formed  in  time; 
and  thus  until  timber  and  brush  became 
exhausted  did  the  pioneer  pave  the  way 
for  the  public  and  himself  to  market,  to 
court,  and  to  elections.  The  second  gen 
eration  discovered  a  value  in  the  inex 
haustible  beds  of  gravel  in  the  rivers  and 
creeks,  as  well  as  beneath  the  soil. 
Roadbeds  were  thrown  up,  and  the  side 
ditches  thus  formed  contributed  to  sound 
wheeling.  Legislation  tempted  capital  to 
invest  and  tollgates  sprang  up  until  the  third 
generation  removed  them  and  assumed  the 
burden  of  large  expenditures  from  public 
funds  for  public  benefit. 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  103 

*  *  And  thus  have  passed  away  the  night 
mare  of  the  farmer,  the  traveller,  the 
mover  and  the  mail-carrier  —  a  nightmare 
that  prevailed  nine  months  of  the  year.  .  . 
An  experience  of  a  trip  from  Indianapolis 
to  Chicago  in  March,  1848,  by  mail  stage 
is  pertinent.  It  took  the  first  twenty-four 
hours  to  reach  Kirklin,  in  Boone  County; 
the  next  twenty-four  to  Logansport,  the 
next  thirty-six  to  reach  South  Bend.  A 
rest  then  of  twenty-four  hours  on  account 
of  high  water  ahead;  then  thirty-six  hours 
to  Chicago  —  five  days  of  hard  travel  in 
mud  or  on  corduroy,  or  sand.  .  .  In 
the  summer  passenger  coaches  went 
through,  but  when  wet  weather  came  the 
mud  wagon  was  used  to  carry  passengers 
and  mail,  and  when  the  mud  became  too 
deep  the  mail  was  piled  into  crates,  canvas- 
covered,  and  hauled  through.  This  was 
done  also  on  the  National  [Cumberland], 
the  Madison,  the  Cincinnati,  the  Lafayette 
and  the  Bloomington  Roads." 

The  corvte,  or  required  work  on  the 
roads  of  France,  has  been  given  as  one  of 
the  minor  causes  of  the  social  unrest  which 
reached  its  climax  in  the  French  Revolu- 


104  PIONEER  ROADS 

tion.    American  peasants  had  no  such  hard 
ship  according  to  an  anonymous  rhymester : 

Oh,  our  life   was   tough  and  tearful,  and  its  toil  was 
often  fearful, 

And  often  we  grew  faint  beneath  the  load. 
But  there  came  a  glad  vacation  and  a  sweet  alleviation, 

When  we  used  to  work  our  tax  out  on  the  road. 

When  we  used  to  work  our  tax  out,  then  we  felt  the 

joys  of  leisure, 

And  we  felt  no  more  the  prick  of  labor's  goad; 
Then  we  shared  the  golden  treasure  of  sweet  rest  in 

fullest  measure, 
When  we  used  to  work  our  tax  out  on  the  road. 

The  macadam  and  plank  roads  saw  the 
Indian  trail  at  its  widest  and  best.  The 
railway  has  had  a  tendency  to  undo  even 
such  advances  over  pioneer  roads  as  came 
in  the  heyday  of  macadam  and  plank  roads. 
We  have  been  going  backward  since  1840 
rather  than  forward.  The  writer  has  had 
long  acquaintance  with  what  was,  in  1830, 
the  first  turnpike  in  Ohio  —  the  Warren 
and  Ashtabula  Road ;  it  was  probably  a  far 
better  route  in  1830  than  in  1900.  By 
worrying  the  horse  you  can  not  make  more 
than  four  miles  an  hour  over  many  parts 
of  it.  One  ought  to  go  into  training  prepar 
atory  to  a  carriage  drive  over  either  the 
Cumberland  or  the  Pennsylvania  road 


FROM  TRAIL  TO  TURNPIKE  105 

across  the  Alleghenies.  As  the  trail  was 
widened  it  grew  better,  but  once  at  its 
maximum  width  it  was  eclipsed  as  an 
avenue  by  the  railway  and,  exceptions 
aside,  has  since  1850  deteriorated.  Every 
foot  added  in  width,  however,  has  contained 
a  lesson  in  American  history;  every  road, 
as  we  have  said,  indicates  a  need;  and  the 
wider  the  road,  it  may  be  added,  the 
greater  the  need.  An  expanding  nation, 
in  a  moment's  time,  burst  westward  through 
these  narrow  trails,  and  left  them  standing 
as  open  roadways.  Few  material  objects 
today  suggest  to  our  eyes  this  marvelous 
movement.  These  old  routes  with  their 
many  winding  tracks,  the  ponderous 
bridges  and  sagging  mile-posts,19  are  relics 
of  those  momentous  days. 

19  The  frontispiece  to  this  volume  represents  a  mile 
stone  which  was  erected  beside  Braddock's  old  road, 
near  Frostburg,  Maryland,  during  the  Revolutionary 
War.  On  the  reverse  side  it  bears  the  legend,  "  Our 
Countrys  Rights  We  Will  Defend."  On  the  front  these 
words  can  be  traced:  "  [12  ?]  Miles  to  Fort  Cumberland 
29  Miles  to  Capt  Smith's  Inn  &  Bridge  by  Crossings. 
[Smithfield,  Pennsylvania]  the  Best  Road  to  Redstone 
Old  Fort  64  M."  The  stone  was  once  taken  away  for 
building  purposes  and  broken ;  the  town  authorities  of 
Frostburg  ordered  it  to  be  cemented,  returned  and  set 
up  on  its  old-time  site. 


CHAPTER  II 

A   PILGRIM   ON   THE   PENNSYLVANIA   ROAD 

THE  following  chapter  is  from  Francis 
Baily's  volume,  A  Journal  of  a  Tour 
in  Unsettled  Parts  of  North  America. 
It  is  an  account  of  a  journey  in  1796  from 
Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  over  the  Penn 
sylvania  road  treated  of  in  Volume  V  of 
this  series.  Francis  Baily  was  an  English 
scientist  of  very  great  reputation.  It  is  to 
be  doubted  whether  there  is  another 
account  of  a  journey  as  far  west  as  Mr. 
Baily's  record  takes  us  (Cincinnati,  Ohio) 
written  at  so  early  a  date  by  an  equally 
famous  foreign  scholar  and  scientist. 

The  route  pursued  was  the  old  state  road 
begun  in  1785  running  through  Pennsyl 
vania  from  Chambersburg,  Bedford,  and 
Greensburg  to  Pittsburg.  Mr.  Baily's 
itinerary  is  by  ancient  taverns,  most  of 
which  have  passed  from  recollection. 

From  Pittsburg  he  went  with  a  company 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  107 

of  pioneers  down  the  Ohio  River  to  their 
new  settlement  near  Cincinnati.  In  his 
experiences  with  these  friends  he  gives  us 
a  vivid  picture  of  pioneer  travel  north  of 
the  Ohio  River. 

"  There  being  no  turnpikes  in  America, 
the  roads  are,  of  course,  very  bad  in  win 
ter,  though  excellent  in  summer.  I  waited 
at  Baltimore  near  a  week  before  I  could 
proceed  on  my  journey,  the  roads  being 
rendered  impassable.  There  is,  at  present, 
but  one  turnpike-road  on  the  continent, 
which  is  between  Lancaster  and  Philadel 
phia,20  a  distance  of  sixty-six  miles,  and  is 
a  masterpiece  of  its  kind ;  it  is  paved  with 
stone  the  whole  way,  and  overlaid  with 
gravel,  so  that  it  is  never  obstructed  during 
the  most  severe  season.  This  practice  is 
going  to  be  adopted  in  other  parts  of  that 
public-spirited  state  [Pennsylvania],  though 
none  of  the  other  states  have  yet  come 
into  the  measure. 

"  From  Baltimore  to  Philadelphia  are 
ninety-eight  miles ;  between  which  places 
there  is  no  want  of  conveyance,  as  there  are 

20  The  Lancaster  Turnpike. 


108  PIONEER  ROADS 

three  or  four  stages  run  daily.  In  one  of 
these  I  placed  myself  on  the  morning  of 
March  ^rd,  1796.  A  description  of  them 
perhaps  would  be  amusing.  The  body  of 
the  carriage  is  closed  in,  about  breast  high; 
from  the  sides  of  which  are  raised  six  or 
eight  small  perpendicular  posts,  which 
support  a  covering  —  so  that  it  is  in  fact  a 
kind  of  open  coach.  From  the  top  are 
suspended  leather  curtains,  which  may  be 
either  drawn  up  in  fine  weather,  or  let 
down  in  rainy  or  cold  weather ;  and  which 
button  at  the  bottom.  The  inside  is  fitted 
up  with  four  seats,  placed  one  before  the 
other;  so  that  the  whole  of  the  passengers 
face  the  horses;  each  seat  will  contain 
three  passengers;  and  the  driver  sits  on 
the  foremost,  under  the  same  cover  with 
the  rest  of  the  company.  The  whole  is 
suspended  on  springs ;  and  the  way  to  get 
into  it  is  in  front,  as  if  you  were  getting 
into  a  covered  cart.  This  mode  of  travel 
ling,  and  which  is  the  only  one  used  in 
America,  is  very  pleasant  as  you  enjoy  the 
country  much  more  agreeably  than  when 
imprisoned  in  a  close  coach,  inhaling  and 
exhaling  the  same  air  a  thousand  times 


r          ......     v 
UM'.V 

PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  109 

over,  like  a  cow  chewing  the  cud ;  but  then 
it  is  not  quite  so  desirable  in  disagreeable 
weather.21 

"  We  had  not  proceeded  far  on  our 
journey  before  we  began  to  encounter 
some  of  those  inconveniences  to  which 
every  person  who  travels  in  this  country  in 
winter  time  is  exposed.  The  roads,  which 
in  general  were  very  bad,  would  in  some 
places  be  impassable,  so  that  we  were 
obliged  to  get  out  and  walk  a  considerable 
distance,  and  sometimes  to  '  put  our 
shoulders  to  the  wheel ; '  and  this  in  the 
most  unpleasant  weather,  as  well  as  in  the 
midst  of  mire  and  dirt.  However,  we  did 
manage  to  get  twelve  miles  to  breakfast; 
and  after  that,  to  a  little  place  called  Bush, 
about  thirteen  miles  farther,  to  dinner ;  and 
about  nine  o'clock  at  night  we  came  to 
Havre  de  Grace ,  about  twelve  miles  further, 

81 "  In  these  stages, ' '  as  Brissot  [Jean  Pierre  Brissot 
de  Warville,  New  Travels  in  the  United  States  (Lon 
don,  1794)]  observes,  "  you  meet  with  men  of  all  profes 
sions.  The  member  of  congress  is  placed  by  the  side  of 
the  shoemaker  who  elected  him;  they  fraternise  to 
gether,  and  converse  with  familiarity.  You  see  no  per 
son  here  take  upon  him  those  important  airs  which  you 
too  often  meet  with  in  England."  —  BAILY. 


110  PIONEER  ROADS 

to  supper;  having  walked  nearly  half  the 
way  up  to  our  ancles  in  mud,  in  a  most 
inclement  season.  Havre  de  Grace  is  a 
pretty  little  place,  most  delightfully  situ 
ated  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehannah 
river,  which  at  this  place  is  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  broad;  it  is  about  a  couple  of 
miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where 
it  empties  into  the  Chesapeak  Bay;  a  fine 
view  of  which  you  have  from  the  town. 
An  excellent  tavern  is  kept  here  by  Mr. 
Barney  .  .  .  and  which  is  frequented 
by  parties  in  the  shooting  season,  for  the 
sake  of  the  wild  fowl  with  which  the 
Susquehannah  so  plentifully  abounds;  the 
canvass- back,  a  most  delicious  bird,  fre 
quents  this  river.  .  .  Next  morning  we 
got  ferried  across  the  river,  and,  breakfast 
ing  at  the  tavern  on  the  other  side,  pro. 
ceeded  on  our  journey,  encountering  the 
same  difficulties  we  had  done  the  preceding 
day.  About  three  miles  from  Barney's 
is  a  little  place,  called  Principio,  situated 
in  a  highly  romantic  country,  where  there 
is  a  large  foundry  for  cannon  and  works 
for  boring  them,  situated  in  a  valley  sur 
rounded  by  a  heap  of  rocks ;  the  wheels  of 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  111 

the  works  are  turned  by  a  stream  of  water 
running  over  some  of  these  precipices. 
About  three  miles  from  this  is  another 
delightful  place,  called  Charleston;  I  mean 
with  respect  to  its  situation  \  as  to  the  town 
itself,  it  does  not  seem  to  improve  at  all, 
at  which  I  very  much  wonder,  as  it  is  most 
advantageously  situated  at  the  head  of  the 
Chesapeak,  of  which  and  the  country 
adjoining  it  commands  a  full  and  most 
charming  view.  We  got  about  nine  miles 
farther,  to  a  town  called  Elkton,  to  dinner. 
This  place  has  nothing  in  it  to  attract  the 
attention  of  travellers.  I  shall  therefore 
pass  it  by,  to  inform  you  that  we  intended 
getting  to  Newport,  about  eighteen  miles, 
to  sleep.  It  was  four  o'clock  before  we 
started ;  and  we  had  not  proceeded  far  on 
these  miserable  roads,  ere  night  overtook 
us;  and,  as  the  fates  would  have  it,  our 
unlucky  coachman  drove  us  into  a  miry 
bog;  and,  in  spite  of  all  our  endeavours, 
we  could  not  get  the  coach  out  again ;  we 
were  therefore  obliged  to  leave  it  there,  with 
the  whole  of  the  baggage,  all  night ;  and  were 
driven  to  the  necessity  of  seeking  our  way 
in  the  dark  to  the  nearest  house,  which 


112  PIONEER  ROADS 

was  about  a  mile  and  a  half  off;  there, 
getting  ourselves  cleaned  and  a  good  sup 
per,  we  went  to  bed.  Next  morning  we 
found  everything  just  as  we  left  it;  and, 
getting  another  coach,  we  proceeded  on 
our  journey,  and,  dining  at  Chester,  got  to 
Philadelphia  about  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  completely  tired  of  our  ride,  hav 
ing  been  three  days  and  three  nights  on 
the  road. 

11  I  would  not  have  been  thus  particular, 
but  I  wished  to  give  you  a  specimen  of  the 
American  mode  of  travelling,  though  you 
will  understand  that  these  difficulties  are 
to  be  met  with  only  at  that  season  of  the 
year  when  the  frost  breaks  up,  and  the 
roads  get  sadly  out  of  order;  for  in  sum 
mer  time  nothing  can  be  more  agreeable, 
expeditious,  and  pleasant.  The  fare  from 
Baltimore  to  Philadelphia  is  6  dollars,  or 
2 /s.,  and  the  customary  charges  on  the 
road  are  J  dollar  for  breakfast,  i  dollar 
for  dinner,  wine  not  included,  J  dollar  for 
supper,  and  J  dollar  for  beds.  These  are 
their  general  prices,  and  they  charge  the 
same  whatever  they  provide  for  you.  By 
this,  you  will  observe  that  travelling  in 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  113 

these  settled  parts  of  the  country  is  about 
as  expensive  as  in  England. 

"The  country  between  Baltimore  and 
Philadelphia  is  of  a  clayey  nature,  mixed 
with  a  kind  of  gravel;  yet  still,  in  the 
hands  of  a  skilful  farmer,  capable  of  yield 
ing  good  produce.  The  land  on  each  side 
of  the  road,  and  back  into  the  country,  was 
pretty  well  cultivated,  and  (though  winter) 
bore  marks  of  industry  and  economy. 
Hedges  are  not  frequent;  but  instead  of 
them  they  place  split  logs  angular- wise  on 
each  other,  making  what  they  call  a  ' '  worm 
fence,"  and  which  is  raised  about  five  feet 
high.  This  looks  very  slovenly,  and, 
together  with  the  stumps  of  trees  remaining 
in  all  the  new-cleared  plantations,  is  a 
great  desight  to  the  scenery  of  the  coun 
try.  .  .  From  Newark  to  New  York  is 
about  nine  miles,  and  the  greatest  part  of 
the  road  is  over  a  large  swamp,  which  lies 
between  and  on  each  side  of  the  Pasaik 
and  Hackinsac  rivers.  Over  this  swamp 
they  have  made  a  causeway,  which  trembles 
the  whole  way  as  you  go  over  it,22  and 

22  It  consists  of  several  layers  of  large  logs  laid  longi 
tudinally,  and  parallel  to  each  other,  and  covered  at  the 
top  with  earth. —  BAILY. 


114  PIONEER  ROADS 

shows  how  far  the  genius  and  industry  of 
man  will  triumph  over  natural  imped 
iments. 

"  To  New  York,  which  is  ninety-six 
miles  from  Philadelphia,  we  were  a  day 
and  a  half  in  coming.  The  roads  were  not 
so  bad  as  when  we  came  from  Baltimore. 
Our  fare  was  6  dollars,  and  the  charges  on 
the  road  the  same  as  between  Baltimore  and 
Philadelphia:  —  viz.,  J  dollar  breakfast,  i 
dollar  dinner,  J  dollar  supper,  and  J  dollar 
lodging.  .  .  The  inhabitants  of  NewYork 
are  very  fond  of  music,  dancing,  and  plays; 
an  attainment  to  excellence  in  the  former 
has  been  considerably  promoted  by  the 
frequent  musical  societies  and  concerts 
which  are  held  in  the  city,  many  of  the 
inhabitants  being  very  good  performers. 
As  to  dancing,  there  are  two  assembly- 
rooms  in  the  city,  which  are  pretty  well 
frequented  during  the  winter  season; 
private  balls  are  likewise  not  uncommon. 
They  have  two  theatres,  one  of  which  is 
lately  erected,  and  is  capable  of  containing 
a  great  number  of  persons;  there  is  an 
excellent  company  of  comedians,  who  per 
form  here  in  the  winter.  But  the  amuse- 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  115 

ment  of  which  they  seem  most  passionately 
fond  is  that  of  sleighing,  which  is  riding  on 
the  snow  in  what  you  call  a  sledge,  drawn 
by  two  horses.  It  is  astonishing  to  see 
how  anxiously  persons  of  all  ages  and  both 
sexes  look  out  for  a  good  fall  of  snow,  that 
they  may  enjoy  their  favourite  amusement; 
and  when  the  happy  time  comes,  to  see 
how  eager  they  are  to  engage  every  sleigh 
that  is  to  be  hired.  Parties  of  twenty  or 
thirty  will  sometimes  go  out  of  town  in 
these  vehicles  towards  evening,  about  six 
or  eight  miles,  when,  having  sent  for  a 
fiddler,  and  danced  till  they  are  tired,  they 
will  return  home  again  by  moonlight,  or, 
perhaps  more  often,  by  day  light.  Whilst 
the  snow  is  on  the  ground  no  other  car 
riages  are  made  use  of,  either  for  pleasure 
or  service.  The  productions  of  the  earth 
are  brought  to  market  in  sleighs;  mer 
chandise  is  draughted  about  in  sleighs; 
coaches  are  laid  by,  and  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  mount  the  silent  car,  and  noth 
ing  is  heard  in  the  streets  but  the  tinkling  ** 

23  The  sleighs  not  making  any  noise  when  in  motion 
over  the  snow,  the  horses  are  obliged  by  law  to  have 
little  bells  fastened  around  their  necks,  to  warn  foot- 
passengers  of  their  approach. —  BAILY. 


116  PIONEER  ROADS 

of  bells.  .  .  I  set  off  on  the  ist  of  Sep 
tember,  1796,  to  make  a  tour  of  the  western 
country, —  that  land  of  Paradise,  according 
to  the  flattering  accounts  given  by  Imlay 
and  others.  Wishing  to  go  to  the  new 
city  of  Washington,  we2*  took  our  route 
through  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  which 
I  have  already  described.  I  shall  not 
trouble  you  with  any  further  remarks, 
excepting  that  as  the  season  was  just  the 
reverse  of  what  it  was  when  I  passed 
through  this  country  last,  it  presented  quite 
a  different  appearance  from  what  I  de 
scribed  to  you  in  my  former  letters.  Be 
sides,  there  was  none  of  that  inconvenience 
from  bad  roads,  so  terrible  to  a  traveller  in 
the  winter.  On  the  contrary,  we  went  on 
with  a  rapidity  and  safety  equal  to  any 
mode  of  travelling  in  England. 

"  From  Baltimore  to  the  new  city  of 
Washington  is  forty-five  miles,  where  we 
arrived  on  the  yh  of  October  following. 
The  road  is  well  furnished  with  taverns, 
which  in  general  are  good,  at  least  as  good 

24 1  was  in  company  with  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of 
Heighway,  who  was  going  down  to  the  northwestern 
settlement  to  form  a  plantation. —  BAILY.  See  p.  144. 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  117 

as  can  be  expected  in  this  part  of  the 
world.  Close  to  Washington  is  a  handsome 
town  called  Georgetown ;  in  fact,  it  will 
form  part  of  the  new  city;  for,  being  so 
near  the  site  intended  for  it,  and  being  laid 
out  nearly  on  the  same  plan,  its  streets  will 
be  only  a  prolongation  of  the  streets  laid 
out  for  the  city  of  Washington :  so  it  will 
in  course  of  time  lose  its  name  of  George 
town,  and  adopt  the  general  one  of  Wash 
ington.  Much  in  the  same  manner  the 
small  places  formerly  separated  from  the 
metropolis  of  England  have  lost  their 
name,  and  fallen  under  the  general  denomi 
nation  of  London. 

"  Georgetown  is  situated  on  a  hill  close 
to  the  river  Potomak ;  it  presents  a  beauti 
ful  view  from  the  surrounding  country,  of 
which  also  it  commands  a  fine  prospect.  It 
is  a  seaport  town,  and  some  of  their  vessels 
are  employed  in  the  London  trade.  There 
are  stages  run  daily  between  this  place  and 
Baltimore,  for  which  you  pay  four  dollars. 
There  are  also  stages  to  and  from  Alexan 
dria,  a  handsome  and  flourishing  town 
situated  on  the  Potomak,  lower  down  the 
stream,  and  about  eight  miles  off;  for 


118  PIONEER  ROADS 

which  you  pay  a  fare  of  three  quarters  of  a 
dollar.  We  put  up  at  the  Federal  Arms 
whilst  we  were  there.  It  is  a  good  inn, 
but  their  charges  are  most  extravagantly 
high.  .  .  At  about  half -past  one,  Octo 
ber  *jth)  we  started  on  our  journey  over  the 
Allegany  mountains  to  Pittsburgh.25  About 
fourteen  miles  on  the  road  is  a  pretty  little 
town  called  Montgomery  Court  House ; 26  it 

25  By  D.  Hewett's  American  Traveller,  the  principal 
points  on  the  Washington- Pittsburg  route  are  given  as 
follows : 

Distance. 

Montgomery  c.  h 14. 

Clarksburg 13. 

Monocasy  River 8. 

Fredericktown 7. 

Hagerstown  .        .        .        .       '.27. 

Pennsylvania  State  line         ...       8. 

M'Connell'stown    .         .        .        .        .20. 

Junietta  River 17. 

Bedford 14. 

Stoyestown  27. 

Summit  of  Laurel  Hill  .        .        .13. 

Greensburg 26. 

Pittsburg 32. 

Total 226. 

26|Mr.  Hewett  gives  this  note  of  Montgomery  C.  H. : 
"  This  village  is  also  called  Rockville.  There  is  an 
extremely  bad  turnpike  from  Washington  to  this  place, 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  119 

contains  some  good  houses,  but  the  streets 
are  narrow.  About  seven  miles  further 
is  a  little  settlement,  formed  a  few  years 
back  by  Captain  Lingham,  called  Middle- 
brook.  Captain  Lingham  has  a  house  on 
the  road,  near  a  mill,  which  he  has  erected; 
and  here  (following  the  example  of  many 
of  his  brother  officers)  he  has  retired  from 
the  toils  and  bustle  of  war,  to  spend  his 
days  in  the  enjoyments  of  a  country  life. 
We  arrived  here  about  six  o'clock ;  the  sun 
was  just  setting,  yet  there  was  time  to  go 
another  stage ;  but,  as  we  got  into  a  part  of 
the  country  where  taverns*1  were  not  very 
frequent,  we  proposed  stopping  here  this 
night.  Accordingly,  putting  our  horses 
up  at  a  little  tavern,  (which,  together  with 
four  or  five  more  houses,  composed  the 
whole  of  the  settlement,)  we  had  a  comfort 
able  supper  and  went  to  bed.  About  half- 
past  six  the  next  morning  we  started  from 
this  place,  and  stopped,  about  seven  miles 

so  much  so,  that  the  man  who  keeps  the  toll  house,  after 
having  taken  toll,  recommends  travellers  to  go  the  ola 
road" — p.  51. 

37  All  the  inns  and  public-houses  on  the  road  are  called 
taverns. —  DAILY. 


120  PIONEER  ROADS 

on  the  road,  at  an  old  woman's  of  the  name 
of  Roberts.28  This  old  woman  (whose 
house,  I  believe,  was  the  only  one  we  saw 
on  the  road)  acts  at  times  in  the  capacity 
of  a  tavern-keeper:  that  is,  a  person  travel 
ling  that  way,  and  straitened  for  provisions, 
would  most  probably  find  something  there 
for  himself  and  his  horse.  The  old  lady 
was  but  just  up  when  we  called;  her  house 
had  more  the  appearance  of  a  hut  than  the 
habitation  of  an  hostess,  and  when  we 
entered  there  was  scarcely  room  to  turn 
round.  We  were  loath  to  stop  here;  but 
there  not  being  any  other  house  near,  we 
were  obliged  to  do  it,  both  for  the  sake  of 
ourselves  and  our  horses.  We  soon  made 
her  acquainted  with  our  wants,  and  she, 
gathering  together  a  few  sticks,  (for  her 
fire  was  not  yet  lighted,)  and  getting  a  lit 
tle  meal  and  some  water,  mixed  us  up  some 
cakes,  which  were  soon  dressed  at  the  fire, 
and  then  all  sitting  down  at  the  table,  and 
having  mixed  some  tea  in  a  little  pot,  we 
enjoyed  a  very  comfortable  breakfast.  The 
poor  old  woman,  who  was  a  widow,  seemed 
to  live  in  a  deal  of  distress:  the  whole  of 
88  Clarksburg. 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  121 

her  living  was  acquired  by  furnishing  ac 
commodation  to  travellers.  When  we  were 
sitting  over  the  fire,  and  partaking  of  our 
meal-cakes  with  this  old  woman,  it  brought 
to  mind  the  story  of  Elijah  and  the  widow, 
(i  Kings,  chap,  xvii.,)  particularly  where 
she  answers  him  with,  'As  the  Lord  thy 
God  liveth,  I  have  not  a  cake,  but  one  hand 
ful  of  meal  in  a  barrel,  and  a  little  oil  in  a 
cruse:  and,  behold,  I  am  gathering  two 
sticks,  that  I  may  go  in  and  dress  it  for  me 
and  my  son,  that  we  may  eat  it,  and  die.' 
The  appositeness  of  our  situations  rendered 
this  passage  very  striking,  and  made  me 
look  upon  my  hostess  in  a  more  favourable 
point  of  view  than  when  I  first  saw  her.  I 
gave  her  something  to  render  her  situation 
more  comfortable  and  happy. 

"  Leaving  this  lonely  habitation,  we  con 
tinued  on  our  journey,  and  crossing  the 
Sinecocy  [Monocacy?]  river,  about  eleven 
miles  on  the  road,  we  reached  Frederick- 
town,  about  four  miles  farther,  at  twelve 
o'clock.  This  is  a  large  flourishing  place, 
contains  a  number  of  good  houses,  and  is  a 
place  of  great  trade,  owing  to  its  being  the 
thoroughfare  to  the  western  country  of 


122  PIONEER  ROADS 

Pennsylvania  and  the  Ohio.  There  is  a  large 
manufactory  of  rifle-guns  carried  on  here ; 
but  so  great  is  the  demand  for  them,  that 
we  could  not  meet  with  one  in  the  whole 
place:  they  sell  in  general  from  15  to  25 
dollars  each,  according  to  their  style  of 
being  mounted.  The  tavern  where  we 
stopped  was  kept  by  Mrs.  Kemble :  it  is  a 
tolerably  good  house.  After  dinner  we 
left  this  place,  and  after  going  about  three 
or  four  miles,  we  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the 
Appalachian  Mountains.  And  here  let  me 
stop  a  little  to  make  a  few  observations  on 
the  face  of  the  country  we  have  just  passed 
over.  From  Georgetown  to  this  place,  it 
almost  wholly  consists  of  a  sandy,  gravelly 
soil,  with  difficulty  repaying  the  husband 
man  for  the  trouble  of  tilling  it.  The  face 
of  the  country  is  very  uneven,  being  a  con 
stant  succession  of  hill  and  dale.  Little 
towns  or  villages  are  scattered  over  the 
country  at  the  distance  of  seven  or  eight 
miles,  which  communicate  with  each  other 
by  roads  which  are  almost  inaccessible 
during  the  winter  and  spring  months.  Our 
charges  on  this  part  of  the  road  were  half 
a  dollar  each  for  breakfast  and  dinner  and 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  128 

supper,  without  any  distinction  of  fare.  If 
our  table  were  spread  with  all  the  profusion 
of  American  luxury,  such  as  ham,  cold 
beef,  fried  chicken,  &c.  &c.,  (which  are  not 
uncommon  for  breakfast  in  this  part  of  the 
world),  or  whether  we  sat  down  to  a  dish 
of  tea  and  hoe-cake,  our  charge  was  all  the 
same.  The  accommodations  we  met  with 
on  the  road  were  pretty  well,  considering 
the  short  time  this  country  has  been  settled, 
and  the  character  and  disposition  of  its 
inhabitants,  which  are  not  those  of  the 
most  polished  nations,  but  a  character  and 
disposition  arising  from  a  consciousness  of 
independence,  accompanied  by  a  spirit  and 
manner  highly  characteristic  of  this  con 
sciousness.  It  is  not  education  alone  that 
forms  this  character  of  the  Americans :  it 
stands  upon  a  firmer  basis  than  this.  The 
means  of  subsistence  being  so  easy  in  the 
country,  and  their  dependence  on  each 
other  consequently  so  trifling,  that  spirit 
of  servility  to  those  above  them  so  pre 
valent  in  European  manners,  is  wholly 
unknown  to  them;  and  they  pass  their 
lives  without  any  regard  to  the  smiles  or 
the  frowns  of  men  in  power. 


124  PIONEER  ROADS 

"  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  way  from 
Georgetown  to  Fredericktown  we  preserved 
a  distant  view  of  the  Allegany  Mountains, 
at  whose  feet  we  were  now  arrived.  They 
presented  to  us  one  general  bluff  appear 
ance,  extending  as  far  as  our  eye  could  see 
from  the  north-east  to  the  south-west.  Our 
approach  to  them  was  in  a  line  perpendicu 
lar  to  that  of  their  extension,  so  that  they 
seemed  to  bid  defiance  to  our  progress. 
The  Allegany  Mountains  is  a  name  given  to 
a  range  of  several  ridges  of  mountains 
stretching  from  Vermont  to  Carolina,  of 
which  one  ridge  alone  is  properly  called  the 
Allegany  Mountain.  These  ridges  are 
nearly  170  miles  in  width;  and  the  middle 
one,  or  the  Allegany,  forms  the  backbone 
of  the  rest.  The  ridge  which  first  pre 
sented  itself  to  our  view,  is  called  in 
Howell's  Map  the  South  Mountain.  The 
road  (which  here  began  to  be  very  rocky 
and  stony)  is  carried  over  the  least  elevated 
part  of  the  mountain,  and  from  its  summit 
we  beheld  that  beautiful  limestone  valley 
so  recommended  by  Brissot.  On  our  de 
scent  from  this  mountain,  we  entered  on 
one  of  the  finest  tracts  of  land  in  all 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  125 

America.  The  celebrated  valley,  which 
lies  between  this  and  the  next  ridge  of 
mountains,  extends  from  the  Susquehanna 
on  the  north  to  Winchester  on  the  south, 
is  richly  watered  by  several  navigable 
streams,  and  is  capable  of  producing  every 
article  which  is  raised  in  the  neighbouring 
countries  in  the  greatest  abundance.  It  is 
inhabited  chiefly  by  Germans  and  Dutch, 
who  are  an  industrious  race  of  men  and 
excellent  farmers.  Their  exertions  have 
made  this  valley  (bounded  on  each  side  by 
barren  and  inhospitable  mountains)  assume 
the  appearance  of  a  highly  cultivated  coun 
try,  abounding  in  all  the  conveniences  and 
some  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  Besides  a 
general  appearance  of  comfortable  farms 
scattered  over  the  face  of  the  country,  it 
can  boast  of  several  large  and  populous 
towns,  which  keep  up  a  connexion  with 
the  cities  on  the  Atlantic,  and  supply  the 
interior  of  this  mountainous  country  with 
the  produce  of  distant  nations.  It  was  dark 
before  we  descended  from  this  mountain; 
but  we  had  not  proceeded  far  in  the  valley 
when  we  came  to  a  little  place  called 
Boone's-town,  where  we  were  glad  to  rest 


126  PIONEER  ROADS 

ourselves  and  horses  after  the  fatigues  of 
so  rough  a  road.  Boone's-town  is  eight 
miles  from  Fredericktown :  it  has  not  been 
settled  above  three  or  four  years.  We  met 
with  a  very  good  tavern  and  excellent  ac 
commodations. 

"  From  Boone's-town,  the  next  morning 
(Sunday,  October  gth,  1796)  we  passed 
through  Funk's-town,  which  is  another  new- 
settled  place ;  and  immediately  on  leaving 
this,  Hagar's-town  presented  itself  to  our 
view,  about  two  miles  off :  here  we  arrived 
to  breakfast.  Hagar's-town29  is  a  large 
flourishing  place,  and  contains  some  good 
houses.  The  streets  are  narrow,  and, 
agreeably  to  a  barbarous  custom  which  they 
have  in  laying  out  new  towns  in  America, 
the  court-house  is  built  in  the  middle  of  the 
principal  street,  which  is  a  great  obstruc 
tion  to  the  passage,  as  well  as  being  of  an 
uncouth  appearance.  This  place  is  situated 
on  a  fine  plain,  and,  like  Frederick's- town, 
is  a  place  of  great  trade,  and  also  a  manu 
factory  for  rifle-guns,  of  which  we  bought 
two  at  twenty  dollars  each.  Here  is  a 
paper  published  weekly;  and  assemblies 
"Hagar's-town  is  ten  miles  from  Boone's-town. — BAILY. 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  127 

are  held  here  during  the  winter.  There 
is  also  a  great  deal  of  horse-racing  in  the 
neighbourhood  at  stated  seasons.  We  put 
up  at  the  Indian  Queen,  kept  by  Ragan :  it 
is  a  good  house  and  much  frequented. 

"  From  Hagar's-town  we  proceeded  on  to 
Greencastle,  which  is  a  poor  little  place, 
but  lately  settled,  and  consisting  of  a  few 
log-houses  built  along  the  road.  We 
stopped  at  one  of  these  houses,  which  they 
called  the  tavern,  kept  by  one  Lawrence; 
it  was  a  poor  miserable  place.  We  were 
obliged  to  unsaddle  our  horses,  put  them 
into  the  stable,  and  feed  them  ourselves; 
and  then,  having  got  something  to  eat  and 
refreshed  ourselves,  we  got  out  of  this 
place  as  soon  as  we  could.  Greencastle  is 
eleven  miles  from  Hagar's-town;  and  we 
had  to  go  eleven  miles  farther  that  evening 
to  Mr.  Lindsay's,  whom  we  had  engaged 
at  Baltimore  to  carry  some  goods  to  Pitts 
burgh  in  his  waggons.  His  house  lay  at 
some  distance  from  the  road  we  were 
going,  so  that  we  struck  across  the  woods 
to  approach  it;  and,  after  having  missed 
our  way  once  or  twice,  we  struck  on  a  road 
which  took  us  down  to  his  house.  Here 


128  PIONEER  ROADS 

we  were  hospitably  entertained  for  two 
days  by  Mr.  Lindsay  and  his  father-in- 
law,  Mr.  Andrews,  who  have  a  very  excel 
lent  farm,  and  live  very  comfortably  in  the 
truly  American  style.  The  place  at  which 
he  resides  is  called  the  Falling  Springs-,  for 
what  reason  they  are  called  falling  springs 
I  cannot  conceive ;  they  rise  from  under  an 
old  tree,  and  the  stream  does  not  proceed 
three  hundred  yards  before  it  turns  a  cyder- 
mill  ;  and  a  little  farther  on  turns  a  grist 
mill.  These  mills  belong  to  Mr.  Andrews, 
as  also  does  a  large  quantity  of  the  land 
around ;  for  in  this  country  all  the  farmers 
are  landholders;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrews 
are  Irish ;  and  they  and  their  family  are  all 
settled  in  the  neighbourhood.  Their  chil 
dren  are  all  brought  up  in  industry,  and 
have  their  time  fully  employed  in  perform 
ing  the  different  necessary  duties  of  the 
house  and  farm.  Nevertheless,  they  appear 
to  live  very  happy  and  comfortable. 

"  Tuesday,  October  nth,  1796. —  About 
eleven  o'clock  this  morning  we  set  off 
from  Mr.  Andrews's,  in  company  with  a 
party  of  several  of  the  neighbouring  farmers 
who  were  going  to  Chambersburgh  to  vote 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  129 

at  an  election.  Chambersburgh  is  about 
three  miles  from  Mr.  Andre ws's,  and  is  a 
large  and  flourishing  place,  not  inferior  to 
Frederick's-town  or  Hagar's-town;  being, 
like  them,  on  the  high  road  to  the  western 
country,  it  enjoys  all  the  advantages  which 
arise  from  such  a  continual  body  of  people 
as  are  perpetually  emigrating  thither.  I 
have  seen  ten  and  twenty  waggons  at  a 
time  in  one  of  these  towns,  on  their  way  to 
Pittsburgh  and  other  parts  of  the  Ohio, 
from  thence  to  descend  down  that  river  to 
Kentucky.  These  waggons  are  loaded 
with  the  clothes  and  necessaries  of  a  num 
ber  of  poor  emigrants,  who  follow  on  foot 
with  their  wives  and  families,  who  are 
sometimes  indulged  with  a  ride  when  they 
are  tired,  or  in  bad  weather.  In  this  man 
ner  they  will  travel  and  take  up  their  abode 
in  the  woods  on  the  side  of  the  road,  like 
the  gypsies  in  our  country,  taking  their  pro 
visions  with  them,  which  they  dress  on  the 
road's  side,  as  occasion  requires. 

"  About  thirteen  miles  from  Chambers- 
burgh,  which  we  left  in  the  afternoon,  is  a 
place  called  the   Mill*®  which  is   kept   by 
80  McDowell's  Mill. 


130  PIONEER  ROADS 

some  Dutchmen.  We  understood  it  was  a 
tavern,  but  were  disappointed;  however, 
as  it  was  now  dark,  and  no  tavern  on  the 
road  for  some  distance,  we  were  under  the 
necessity  of  begging  a  lodging  here,  which 
was  granted  us  at  last  with  the  greatest 
reluctance.  Here  we  had  rather  an  un 
favourable  specimen  of  Dutch  manners. 
We  were  kindly  directed  to  take  our  horses 
to  the  stables,  and  take  care  of  them  our 
selves,  which  we  accordingly  did;  and, 
returning  to  the  house,  I  was  witness  to  a 
kind  of  meal  I  had  never  before  experi 
enced.  First  of  all,  some  sour  milk  was 
warmed  up  and  placed  on  the  table.  This 
at  any  other  time  would  probably  have 
made  us  sick;  but  having  fasted  nearly  the 
whole  day,  and  seeing  no  appearance  of 
anything  else  likely  to  succeed  it,  we 
devoured  it  very  soon;  particularly  as  the 
whole  family  (of  which  there  were  seven 
or  eight)  partook  of  it  likewise ;  all  of  us 
sitting  round  one  large  bowl,  and  dipping 
our  spoons  in  one  after  another.  When 
this  was  finished  a  dish  of  stewed  pork  was 
served  up,  accompanied  with  some  hot 
pickled  cabbage,  called  in  this  part  of  the 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  131 

country  "  warm  slaw."  This  was  devoured  in 
the  same  hoggish  manner,  every  one  trying 
to  help  himself  first,  and  two  or  three  eating 
off  the  same  plate,  and  all  in  the  midst  of 
filth  and  dirt.  After  this  was  removed  a 
large  bowl  of  cold  milk  and  bread  was  put 
on  the  table,  which  we  partook  of  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  first  dish,  and  in  the 
same  disorder.  The  spoons  were  immedi 
ately  taken  out  of  the  greasy  pork  dish,  and 
(having  been  just  cleaned  by  passing 
through  the  mouth]  were  put  into  the  milk ; 
and  that,  with  all  the  sang  froid  necessarily 
attending  such  habitual  nastiness.  Our 
table,  which  was  none  of  the  cleanest  (for 
as  to  cloth,  they  had  none  in  the  house), 
was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
which  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  receptacle 
of  all  the  filth  and  rubbish  in  the  house ;  and 
a  fine  large  fire,  which  blazed  at  one  end, 
served  us  instead  of  a  candle. 

"  Wishing  to  go  to  bed  as  soon  as  possi 
ble  (though,  by  the  by,  we  did  not  expect 
that  our  accommodations  would  be  any  of 
the  most  agreeable),  we  requested  to  be 
shown  to  our  room,  when,  lo!  we  were 
ushered  up  a  ladder,  into  a  dirty  place, 


132  PIONEER  ROADS 

where  a  little  hole  in  the  wall  served  for  a 
window,  and  where  there  were  four  or  five 
beds  as  dirty  as  need  be.  These  beds  did 
not  consist  (as  most  beds  do)  of  blankets, 
sheets,  &c.,  but  were  truly  in  the  Dutch 
style,  being  literally  nothing  more  than 
one  feather  bed  placed  on  another,  between 
which  we  were  to  creep  and  lie  down. 
The  man,  after  showing  us  this  our  place 
of  destination,  took  the  candle  away,  and 
left  us  to  get  in  how  we  could,  which  we 
found  some  difficulty  in  doing  at  first; 
however,  after  having  accomplished  it,  we 
slept  very  soundly  till  morning,  when  we 
found  we  had  passed  the  night  amongst  the 
whole  family,  men,  women,  and  children, 
who  had  occupied  the  other  beds,  and  who 
had  come  up  after  we  had  been  asleep. 
We  got  up  early  in  the  morning  from  this 
inhospitable  and  filthy  place,  and,  saddling 
our  horses,  pursued  our  journey. 

"  October  \2th,  1796. —  At  ten  o'clock  we 
arrived  at  McConnell's-town,  in  Cove  Val 
ley  (thirteen  miles),  having  first  passed 
over  a  high  ridge  called,  in  Ho  well's  Map, 
the  North  Mountain ;  and  here  we  left  that 
beautiful  valley,  which  is  enriched  by  so 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  135 

many  streams,  and  abounds  with  such  a 
profusion  of  the  conveniences  of  life;  a 
country  than  which,  if  we  except  Kentucky, 
is  not  to  be  found  a  more  fertile  one  in  the 
whole  of  the  United  States. 

"  On  our  descent  from  the  North  Moun 
tain  we  caught,  through  every  opening  of 
the  woods,  the  distant  view  of  McConnell's, 
whose  white  houses,  contrasted  with  the  sea 
of  woods  by  which  it  was  surrounded,  ap 
peared  like  an  island  in  the  ocean.  Our 
near  approach  to  it,  however,  rendered  it 
not  quite  so  pleasing  an  object;  for  it  con 
sisted  but  of  a  few  log-houses,  built  after 
the  American  manner,  without  any  other 
ornament  than  that  of  being  whitened  on 
the  outside.  There  was  a  pretty  good  tavern 
kept  here  by  a  Dutchwoman,  where  we 
stopped  to  breakfast;  and,  leaving  this 
place,  we  crossed  a  hill  called  Scrubheath, 
at  the  end  of  which  was  Whyle's  tavern 
(ten  miles):  we  did  not  stop,  but  went  to 
the  top  of  Sideling  Hill  (two  miles),  where 
there  is  a  tavern  kept  by  Skinner,  where 
we  dined.  Sideling  Hill  is  so  called  from 
the  road  being  carried  over  this  ridge,  on 
the  side  of  the  hill,  the  whole  way ;  it  is  very 


136  PIONEER  ROADS 

steep  in  ascent,  and  towards  the  top  ap 
pears  very  tremendous  on  looking  down. 

"  From  this  tavern  to  the  Junietta,  a 
branch  of  the  Susquehannah  river,  is  eight 
miles.  The  hill  terminates  at  the  river, 
and  the  road  down  to  it  is  a  narrow  wind 
ing  path,  apparently  cleft  out  of  the  moun 
tain.  It  so  happened  that  when  we  came 
to  this  defile,  a  travelling  man  with  a  num 
ber  of  packhorses  had  just  entered  it  before 
us ;  and  as  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  pass 
them,  we  were  obliged  to  follow  them  down 
this  long  winding  passage  to  the  river,  at 
their  own  pace,  which,  poor  animals,  was 
none  of  the  speediest.  The  sun,  though 
not  set,  had  been  long  hid  from  us  by  the 
neighbouring  mountains,  and  would  not 
lend  us  one  ray  to  light  us  on  our  melan 
choly  path.  We  fell  into  conversation  with 
our  fellow-traveller,  and  found  that  he  had 
been  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  had  pur 
chased  a  number  of  articles  necessary  to 
those  who  live  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
and  which  he  was  going  to  dispose  of  in 
the  best  manner  possible.  The  gloominess 
of  our  path,  and  the  temper  of  mind  I  hap 
pened  to  be  then  in,  threw  me  into  reflec- 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  137 

tions  on  a  comparison  of  this  man's  state 
with  my  own.  At  length  a  distant  light 
broke  me  from  my  reverie,  and  indicated 
to  us  a  near  prospect  of  our  enlargement 
from  this  obscure  path ;  and  the  first  thing 
that  presented  itself  to  our  view  was  the 
Junietta  river,  which,  flowing  with  a  gentle 
stream  between  two  very  steep  hills, 
covered  with  trees  to  the  very  top,  the  sun 
just  shining,  and  enlightening  the  opposite 
side,  though  hid  to  us,  presented  one  of 
the  most  enchanting  and  romantic  scenes  I 
ever  experienced.  From  this  place  to  Hart 
ley's  Tavern  is  eight  miles,  and  this  we 
had  to  go  before  night.  It  was  sunset  be 
fore  we  had  reached  the  summit  of  the  op 
posite  hill  of  the  river.  From  this  hill  we 
beheld  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  moun 
tainous  and  woody  country;  the  Junietta 
winding  and  flowing  on  each  side  of  us  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill;  the  distant  moun 
tains  appearing  in  all  the  wildness  of  majesty, 
and  extending  below  the  horizon.  The 
moon  had  just  begun  to  spread  her  silver 
light;  and  by  her  assistance  we  were 
enabled  to  reach  our  destined  port.  The 
road,  which  was  carried  along  the  side  of 


138  PIONEER  ROADS 

a  tremendously  high  hill,  seemed  to 
threaten  us  with  instant  death,  if  our  horses 
should  make  a  false  step.  Embosomed  in 
woods,  on  a  lonely  path,  we  travelled  by 
the  kind  light  of  the  moon  till  near  eight 
o'clock,  when  we  reached  our  place  of  des 
tination.  It  was  a  very  comfortable  house, 
kept  by  one  Hartley,  an  Englishman,  and 
situated  in  a  gap  of  the  mountains,  called 
in  this  part  of  the  country  Warrior's  Gap, 
and  which  affords  an  outlet  or  passage  for 
the  Junietta  river,  which  here  is  a  fine  gentle 
stream.  The  country  just  about  here  was 
very  mountainous;  yet  our  landlord  had 
got  a  very  pleasant  spot  cleared  and  culti 
vated,  and  which  furnished  him  with  the 
principal  necessaries  of  life.  Finding  this 
an  agreeable  place,  we  stopped  here  three 
days,  and  went  up  into  the  mountains  to 
shoot ;  but,  being  very  young  hands  at  this 
diversion,  we  were  always  unsuccessful. 

"  On  Saturday,  October  i$th,  we  set  off 
from  Hartley's  about  eleven  o'clock,  and 
proceeded  to  Redford  (six  miles),  which  is 
a  pleasant  place,  and  agreeably  situated, 
and  contains  a  great  many  houses.  The 
town  is  supplied  with  water  from  the 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  139 

neighbouring  hills;  conveyed  in  pipes  to 
each  house,  and  to  a  public  place  in  the 
middle  of  the  town.  We  left  this  place 
about  half -past  twelve,  and  proceeded  to 
Ryan's  tavern,  at  the  foot  of  the  Allegany 
mountain  (eleven  miles).  Here  we  dined; 
and  after  dinner,  we  proceeded  up  the 
mountain,  the  top  of  which  we  reached 
about  five  o'clock ;  and  here  I  was  surprised 
to  find  a  number  of  little  streams  of  water 
flowing  through  some  as  fine  land  as  is  to 
be  met  with  in  the  United  States,  and 
abounding  with  fish.  This  appearance 
upon  the  top  of  so  high  a  mountain  is  not 
a  little  remarkable ;  but  I  have  since  found 
it  to  be  the  case  in  other  ridges  of  moun 
tains  which  I  have  passed  over.  We  intend 
ed  to  have  gone  on  to  Webster's  this  even 
ing,  but  the  weather  proving  so  bad,  we 
called  at  a  little  house  on  the  road,  in 
order  to  stop  during  the  night.  But  we 
were  informed  that  they  could  not  accom 
modate  us ;  however,  they  directed  us  to  a 
person  about  a  mile  off,  where  they  thought 
we  could  get  accommodated;  accordingly, 
striking  across  the  woods,  we  proceeded  to 
this  house,  and,  after  some  little  trouble, 


140  PIONEER  ROADS 

and  in  a  very  tempestuous  night,  we  found 
it  out,  and  here  took  up  our  abode  for  the 
night.  Our  landlord's  name  was  Statler, 
and  his  residence  is  about  eight  miles 
from  Ryan's.  Here  we  found  a  very  com 
fortable  habitation,  and  very  good  accom 
modation  ;  and  though  situated  at  the  top 
of  the  highest  ridge  of  mountains,  we 
experienced  not  only  the  comforts,  but  also 
some  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  From  the 
stone  which  forms  the  base  of  this  mountain 
they  make  mill-stones,  which  are  sent  to 
all  parts  of  the  country,  and  sell  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  and  thirty  dollars  a  pair. 
Land  sells  on  these  mountains  for  two  dol 
lars  an  acre.  We  found  this  so  comfort 
able  a  place,  that  we  stopped  here  to  break 
fast  the  next  morning  (October  \6tti),  and 
then  we  proceeded  to  Webster's,  at  a  place 
called  Stoystown  (nine  miles),  where  there 
is  a  good  tavern,  and  where  we  stopped  to 
bait  our  horses.  About  a  mile  before  we 
came  to  Webster's  we  passed  over  Stoney 
Creek,  which  has  a  great  many  different 
branches,  and  rather  large,  but  most  of 
them  were  dry,  owing  partly  to  the  season, 
and  partly  to  their  lying  so  very  high. 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  141 

About  nine  miles  further  we  stopped  at 
Murphy's,  where  we  baited  our  horses;  but 
the  habitation  was  so  uncomfortable,  and 
their  accommodations  so  miserable,  that 
we  could  get  nothing  for  ourselves;  we 
were  therefore  obliged  to  defer  till  the 
evening  taking  any  refreshment.  On  leav 
ing  this  place  we  crossed  Laurel  Hill,  which 
is  near  nine  miles  long,  and  which  is  the 
highest  ridge  of  the  Apalachian  mountains : 
it  is  rather  a  ridge  upon  a  ridge,  than  a 
mountain  by  itself,  as  it  rises  upon  the 
Allegany  ridge.  The  perpendicular  height 
of  this  ridge  is  4,200  feet;  and  in  crossing 
it  we  were  not  a  little  incommoded  by  the 
cold  winds  and  rain  which  generally  infest 
the  summit.  This,  together  with  the  bad 
ness  of  the  roads  (being  nothing  but  large 
loose  stones),  made  it  one  of  the  most  un 
pleasant  rides  I  ever  experienced.  It  was 
near  dark  before  we  descended  this  moun 
tain  ;  and  we  had  then  to  go  three  miles  to 
a  poor  miserable  hut,  where  we  were 
obliged  to  spend  the  night  amidst  the  whole 
family  and  some  other  travellers,  all  scat 
tered  about  in  the  same  room. 

' '  About  half -past  six  the  next  morning 


142  PIONEER  ROADS 

(October  \7th,  1796)  we  set  out  from  King's, 
and  crossing  Chestnut  ridge,  we  arrived  at 
Letty  Bean's  to  breakfast  (seven  and  a  half 
miles).  After  crossing  Chestnut  ridge  we 
took  our  leave  of  the  Apalachian  mountains, 
having  passed  170  miles  over  them,  from 
the  Blue  ridge  to  Chestnut  ridge.  These 
mountains  are  for  the  most  part  very  stony 
and  rocky,  yet  have  a  great  quantity  of 
fine  land  on  them,  even  on  their  very  sum 
mits.  The  roads  which  are  carried  over 
them  are  much  better  than  I  expected; 
and  if  from  the  tops  of  them  you  can 
(through  an  opening  of  the  trees)  gain  a 
view  of  the  surrounding  country,  it  appears 
like  a  sea  of  woods;  and  all  those  hills 
which  appeared  very  high  in  our  passing 
over  them,  are  lost  in  one  wide  plane,  ex 
tending  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  at  least 
fifty  or  sixty  miles,  presenting  a  view  not 
only  novel,  but  also  highly  majestic.  At 
other  times,  when  you  get  between  the  de 
clivities  of  the  mountains,  they  appear  in 
all  the  wildness  of  nature,  forming  the  most 
romantic  scenery  the  imagination  can  pic 
ture.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  that  im 
mediately  on  leaving  the  Apalachian  moun- 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  143 

tains  the  country  subsides  into  a  smooth 
level;  on  the  contrary,  for  several  miles, 
both  on  the  eastern  and  western  side,  the 
country  is  very  hilly,  not  to  say  sometimes 
mountainous ;  and  it  is  said  that  the  west 
ern  side  of  the  mountains  is  300  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  eastern  side. 

' '  From  the  foot  of  the  mountains  to  Pitts 
burgh  is  about  forty  miles,  and  here  we 
arrived  to  dinner  on  the  \%th  October,  hav 
ing  gone,  during  our  route,  about  297  miles 
from  Philadelphia.  The  accommodations 
we  met  with  were,  upon  the  whole,  toler 
ably  good ;  at  least,  such  as  a  person  (con 
sidering  the  country  he  was  travelling  in) 
might  bear  with :  charges  rather  high.  It 
cost  us,  together  with  our  horses,  two 
dollars  a  day  each.  The  common  charges 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains 
were :  —  For  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper, 
J  dollar  each;  oats,  12  cents,  per  gallon. 
On  the  western  side,  dinner  and  supper 
were  charged  sometimes  2s.,  sometimes 
2s.  6d.,  and  breakfasts,  i8d.,  (Pennsyl 
vania  currency).  For  breakfast  we  gener 
ally  used  to  have  coffee,  and  buck-wheat 
cakes,  and  some  fried  venison  or  broiled 


144  PIONEER  ROADS 

chicken,  meat  being  inseparable  from  an 
American  breakfast;  and  whatever  travel 
lers  happened  to  stop  at  the  same  place, 
sat  down  at  the  same  table,  and  partook  of 
the  same  dishes,  whether  they  were  poor, 
or  whether  they  were  rich ;  no  distinction 
of  persons  being  made  in  this  part  of  the 
country.  .  . 

"  The  waggons  which  come  over  the 
Allegany  mountains  from  the  Atlantic 
states,  (bringing  dry  goods  and  foreign 
manufactures  for  the  use  of  the  back-coun 
try  men,)  return  from  this  place  generally 
empty ;  though  sometimes  they  are  laden 
with  deer  and  bear  skins  and  beaver  furs, 
which  are  brought  in  by  the  hunters,  and 
sometimes  by  the  Indians,  and  exchanged 
at  the  stores  for  such  articles  as  they  may 
stand  in  need  of." 

Passing  down  the  Ohio  River  Mr.  Baily 
proceeded  with  a  pioneer  party  the  leader 
of  which,  Mr.  Heighway,  was  about  to 
found  a  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Little 
Miami  River  in  Ohio.  Leaving  the  river 
at  the  newly  located  village  of  Columbia, 
Ohio,  the  party  pushed  on  northward.  Mr. 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  145 

Baily  accompanied  them  out  of  curiosity, 
and  his  record  is  of  utmost  interest. 

"  Saturday,  March  Ajh,  1797, —  the  two 
waggons  started,  accompanied  with  a  guide 
to  conduct  them  through  the  wilderness, 
and  three  or  four  pioneers  to  clear  the  road 
of  trees  where  there  might  be  occasion; 
and  on 

"Monday,  March  6th, —  Dr.  Bean  and 
myself  started  about  noon,  accompanied  by 
several  others  in  the  neighbourhood ;  some 
of  whom  were  tempted  by  curiosity,  and 
others  with  a  prospect  of  settling  there. 
We  were  mounted  on  horses,  and  had  each 
a  gun ;  and  across  our  saddles  we  had  slung 
a  large  bag,  containing  some  corn  for  our 
horses,  and  provision  for  ourselves,  as  also 
our  blankets :  the  former  was  necessary,  as 
the  grass  had  not  yet  made  its  appearance 
in  the  woods.  We  kept  the  road  as  long 
as  we  could;  and  when  that  would  not 
assist  us  any  farther,  we  struck  out  into  the. 
woods;  and  towards  sundown  found  our 
selves  about  twenty  miles  from  Columbia. 
Here,  having  spied  a  little  brook  running 
at  the  bottom  of  a  hill,  we  made  a  halt, 


146  PIONEER  ROADS 

and  kindling  a  fire,  we  fixed  up  our  blankets 
into  the  form  of  a  tent,  and  having  fed 
both  ourselves  and  our  horses,  we  laid  our 
selves  down  to  rest;  one  of  us,  by  turns, 
keeping  watch,  lest  the  Indians  should 
come  and  steal  our  horses.  The  next 
morning, — 

' '  Tuesday,  March  *jth,  —  as  soon  as  it  was 
light,  we  continued  our  journey,  and  to 
wards  the  middle  of  the  day  overtook  our 
friend  H.,31  almost  worn  out  with  fatigue. 
The  ground  was  so  moist  and  swampy,  and 
he  had  been  obliged  to  come  through  such 
almost  impassable  ways,  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  the  horses  could  proceed;  they 
were  almost  knocked  up ;  his  waggons  had 
been  over-turned  twice  or  thrice ;  —  in  fact, 
he  related  to  us  such  a  dismal  story  of  the 
trials  both  of  patience  and  of  mind  which 
he  had  undergone,  and  I  verily  believe  if 
the  distance  had  been  much  greater,  he 
would  either  have  sunk  under  it,  or  have 
formed  his  settlement  on  the  spot.  We  en 
couraged  him  with  the  prospect  of  a  speedy 

31  Mr.  Heighway,  an  Englishman  who  settled  now  at 
Waynesville,  Warren  County,  Ohio. — History  of  War 
ren  County,  Ohio  (Chicago,  1882),  p.  412. 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  147 

termination,  and  the  hopes  of  better  ground 
to  pass  over ;  and  with  this  his  spirits  seemed 
to  be  somewhat  raised.  We  all  encamped 
together  this  night,  and  made  ourselves  as 
happy  and  as  comfortable  as  possible.  My 
friend  H.  seemed  also  to  put  on  the  new 
man;  and  from  this,  and  from  his  being 
naturally  of  a  lively  turn,  we  found  that  it 
was  a  great  deal  the  want  of  society  which 
had  rendered  him  so  desponding,  and  so 
out  of  spirits;  for  after  we  had  cooked 
what  little  refreshment  we  had  brought 
with  us,  and  finished  our  repast,  he  sang 
us  two  or  three  good  songs,  (which  he  was 
capable  of  doing  in  a  masterly  style,)  and 
seemed  to  take  a  pleasure  in  delaying  as 
long  as  he  could  that  time  which  we  ought 
to  have  devoted  to  rest.  As  to  my  own 
part,  I  regarded  the  whole  enterprise  in  a 
more  philosophic  point  of  view ;  and  I  may 
say  with  the  Spectator,  I  considered  myself 
as  a  silent  observer  of  all  that  passed  before 
me ;  and  could  not  but  fancy  that  I  saw  in 
this  little  society  before  me  the  counter 
part  of  the  primitive  ages,  when  men  used 
to  wander  about  in  the  woods  with  all  their 
substance,  in  the  manner  that  the  present 


148  PIONEER  ROADS 

race  of  Tartars  do  at  this  day.  I  could  not 
but  think  that  I  saw  in  miniature  the  pere 
grinations  of  Abraham,  or  JEneas,  &c.,  &c. 
"  The  next  morning,  Wednesday,  March 
%th,  by  day-light,  our  cavalcade  was  in 
motion;  and  some  of  the  party  rode  on 
first  to  discover  the  spot,  for  we  were 
travelling  without  any  other  guide  than 
what  little  knowledge  of  the  country  the 
men  had  acquired  by  hunting  over  it.  I 
could  not  but  with  pleasure  behold  with 
what  expedition  the  pioneers  in  front 
cleared  the  way  for  the  waggon;  there 
were  but  three  or  four  of  them,  and  they 
got  the  road  clear  as  fast  as  the  waggon 
could  proceed.  Whilst  we  were  continuing 
on  at  this  rate,  we  observed  at  some  dis 
tance  before  us,  a  human  being  dart  into  the 
woods,  and  endeavour  to  flee  from  us. 
Ignorant  what  this  might  mean,  we  delayed 
the  waggons,  and  some  of  us  went  into  the 
woods  and  tracked  the  footsteps  of  a  man 
for  some  little  distance,  when  suddenly  a 
negro  made  his  appearance  from  behind 
some  bushes,  and  hastily  inquired  whether 
there  were  any  Indians  in  our  party,  or 
whether  we  had  met  with  any.  The 


PENNSYLVANIA  ROAD  149 

hideousness  of  the  man's  countenance, 
(which  was  painted  with  large  red  spots 
upon  a  black  ground,)  and  his  sudden  ap 
pearance,  startled  us  at  first;  but  soon 
guessing  his  situation,  we  put  him  beyond 
all  apprehension,  and  informed  him  he  was 
perfectly  safe.  He  then  began  to  inform 
us  that  he  had  been  a  prisoner  among  the 
Indians  ever  since  the  close  of  the  last 
American  war ;  and  that  he  had  meditated 
his  escape  ever  since  he  had  been  in  their 
hands,  but  that  never,  till  now,  had  he  been 
able  to  accomplish  it. 

"  We  could  not  but  look  upon  the  man 
with  an  eye  of  pity  and  compassion,  and 
after  giving  him  something  to  pursue  his 
journey  with,  and  desiring  him  to  follow 
our  track  to  Columbia,  we  separated.  At 
about  three  or  four  o'clock  the  same  after 
noon,  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
Little  Miami  river.  Here  we  halted,  (for 
it  was  on  the  banks  of  this  river  that  the 
town  was  laid  out,)  and  we  were  soon 
joined  by  our  other  companions,  who  had 
proceeded  on  first,  and  who  informed  us 
that  they  had  recognized  the  spot  about 
half  a  mile  higher  up  the  river.  We 


150  PIONEER  ROADS 

accordingly  went  on,  and  got  the  goods  all 
out  of  the  waggons  that  night,  so  that  they 
might  return  again  as  soon  as  they  thought 
proper.  And  here  we  could  not  but  con 
gratulate  our  friend  H.  upon  his  arrival  at 
the  seat  of  his  new  colony." 


CHAPTER  III 
ZANE'S  TRACE  AND  THE  MAYSVILLE  PIKE 

IN  the  study  of  the  Ohio  River  as  a  high 
way  of  immigration  and  commerce  it 
was  emphasized  that  in  earliest  pioneer 
days  the  ascent  of  the  river  was  a  serious 
and  difficult  problem.  This  was  true, 
indeed,  not  on  the  Ohio  alone,  but  on 
almost  every  river  of  importance  in  the 
United  States.  Of  course  brawny  arms 
could  force  a  canoe  through  flood-tides  and 
rapids;  but,  as  a  general  proposition,  the 
floods  of  winter,  with  ice  floating  fast 
amid-stream  and  clinging  in  ragged  blocks 
and  floes  along  the  shore,  and  the  droughts 
of  summer  which  left,  even  in  the  Ohio, 
great  bars  exposed  so  far  to  the  light  that 
the  river  could  be  forded  here  and  there 
by  children,  made  even  canoe  navigation 
well-nigh  impossible.  For  other  craft 
than  light  canoes  navigation  was  utterly 
out  of  the  question  in  the  dry  seasons  and 


152  PIONEER  ROADS 

exceedingly  dangerous  on  the  icy  winter 
floods  at  night  —  when  the  shore  could  not 
be  approached. 

Such  conditions  as  these  gave  origin  to 
many  of  our  land  highways.  Where 
pioneer  homes  were  built  beside  a  navig 
able  river  it  was  highly  important  to  have  a 
land  thoroughfare  leading  back  to  the 
"  old  settlements  "  which  could  be  travers 
ed  at  all  seasons.  Many  of  our  "  river 
roads  "  came  into  existence,  not  because  the 
valleys  offered  the  easiest  courses  for  land 
travel,  but  because  pioneer  settlements 
were  made  on  river  banks,  and,  as  the  rivers 
were  often  worthy  of  the  common  French 
name  "  Embarras, "  land  courses  were 
necessary.  In  the  greater  rivers  this 
"  homeward  track,"  so  to  speak,  frequently 
abandoned  the  winding  valley  and  struck 
straight  across  the  interior  on  the  shortest 
available  route. 

The  founding  of  Kentucky  in  the  lower 
Ohio  Valley  offers  a  specific  instance  to 
illustrate  these  generalizations,  and  brings 
us  to  the  subject  of  a  thoroughfare  which 
was  of  commanding  importance  in  the  old 
West.  We  have  elsewhere  dealt  at  length 


ZANE'S  TRACE  153 

with  the  first  settlement  of  Kentucky, 
making  clear  the  fact  that  the  great  road 
blazed  by  Boone  through  Cumberland  Gap 
was  the  most  important  route  in  Kentucky's 
early  history.  The  growth  of  the  import 
ance  of  the  Ohio  River  as  a  thoroughfare 
and  its  final  tremendous  importance  to 
Kentucky  and  the  entire  West  has  also 
been  reviewed.  But,  despite  this  import 
ance,  the  droughts  of  summer  and  the  ice- 
torrents  of  winter  made  a  landward  route 
from  Kentucky  to  Pennsylvania  and  the 
East  an  absolute  necessity.  Even  when  the 
river  was  navigable,  the  larger  part  of  the 
craft  which  sailed  it  before  1820  were  not 
capable  of  going  up-stream.  Heavy  freight 
could  be  "  poled  "  and  "  cordelled  "  up  in 
the  keel-boat  and  barge,  but  for  all  other 
return  traffic,  both  freight  and  passenger, 
the  land  routes  from  Kentucky  north  and 
east  were  preferable.  For  many  years  the 
most  available  messenger  and  mail  route 
from  Cincinnati,  Vincennes,  and  Louisville 
was  over  Boone 's  Wilderness  Road  through 
Cumberland  Gap.  But,  as  the  eighteenth 
century  neared  its  close,  the  large  popula 
tion  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  north- 


154  PIONEER  ROADS 

western  Virginia  made  necessary  better 
routes  from  the  tipper  Ohio  Valley  across 
the  Alleghenies;  in  turn,  the  new  con 
ditions  demanded  a  route  up  the  Ohio 
Valley  from  Kentucky  to  Pennsylvania. 

In  our  survey  of  Indian  Thoroughfares, 
a  slight  path  known  as  the  Mingo  Trail  is 
mentioned  as  leading  across  eastern  Ohio 
from  Mingo  Bottom  near  the  present 
Steubenville,  on  the  Ohio  River,  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Zanesville  on  the  Mus- 
kingum  River.32  Mingo  Bottom  was  a 
well-known  Indian  camping-place;  the 
name  is  preserved  in  the  railway  junction 
thereabouts,  Mingo  Junction.  A  distinct 
watershed  offers  thoroughfare  southwest 
erly  across  to  the  Muskingum,  and  on 
this  lay  the  old  trail.  The  termini  of  this 
earliest  known  route  were  near  two  early 
settlements  of  whites;  Mingo  Bottom  lies 
eight  or  nine  miles  north  of  Wheeling,  one 
of  the  important  stations  in  the  days  of 
border  warfare.  The  Mingo  Trail,  swing 
ing  southward  a  little,  became  the  route  of 
white  hunters  and  travelers  who  wished  to 

^Historic  Highways  of  America,  vol.  ii,  p.  109. 


ZANE'S  TRACE  155 

cross  what  is  now  eastern  Ohio.  The  Mus- 
kingum  River  terminus  of  the  trail  was 
Wills  Town,  as  far  down  the  Muskingum 
from  Zanesville  as  Mingo  Bottom  was 
above  Wheeling  on  the  Ohio.  It  is  alto 
gether  probable  that  a  slight  trace  left  the 
Wills  Town  trail  and  crossed  the  Muskin 
gum  at  the  mouth  of  Licking  River  —  the 
present  site  of  Zanesville.  If  a  trail  led 
thence  westwardly  toward  the  famed  Picka- 
way  Plains,  it  is  recorded  on  none  of  our 
maps.  We  know,  therefore,  of  only  the 
Mingo  Trail,  running,  let  us  say  loosely, 
from  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  to  Zanes 
ville,  Ohio,  which  could  have  played  any 
part  in  forming  what  soon  became  known 
as  the  first  post  road  in  all  the  Territory 
Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio. 

With  the  close  of  the  Indian  War  and  the 
signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Greenville  in  1795, 
the  American  possession  of  the  Northwest 
was  placed  beyond  question.  A  flood  of 
emigrants  at  once  left  the  eastern  states 
for  the  Central  West,  and  the  return 
traffic,  especially  in  the  form  of  travelers 
and  private  mail  packets,  from  Kentucky 
and  Cincinnati,  began  at  once  to  assume 


158  PIONEER  ROADS 

significant  proportions,  and  Congress  was 
compelled  to  facilitate  travel  by  opening  a 
post  route  two  hundred  and  twenty-six 
miles  in  length  from  the  upper  to  the  lower 
Ohio.  Accordingly,  the  following  act: 
"An  Act  to  authorize  Ebenezer  Zane^  to  locate 
certain  lands  in  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio ' '  was 
passed  by  Congress  and  approved  May 
17,  1796: 

' '  Be  it  enacted,  &c. ,  That,  upon  the  con 
ditions  hereinafter  mentioned,  there  shall 
be  granted  to  Ebenezer  Zane  three  tracts  of 
land,  not  exceeding  one  mile  square  each, 
one  on  the  Muskingum  river,  one  on  Hock- 
hocking  river,  and  one  other  on  the  north 
bank  of  Scioto  river,  and  in  such  situations 
as  shall  best  promote  the  utility  of  a  road 
to  be  opened  by  him  on  the  most  eligible 
route  between  Wheeling  and  Limestone,34 

33  The  patriot-pioneer  of   Wheeling,   the  first  settle 
ment    on  the  Ohio  River  below  Pittsburg,  which  he 
founded  in  1769,  and  where  he  lived  until  1811.     He  was 
born  in  Virginia  in  1747. 

34  The  importance  of  the  historic  entrepot  Limestone* 
Mason  County,  Kentucky  (later  named  Maysville  from 
one    of    its    first    inhabitants)  has  been  suggested  in 
Volume  IX  of  this  series  (pp.  70,  89,  128).     It  was  the 


ZANE'S  TRACE  167 

to  be  approved  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  or  such  person  as  he  shall 
appoint  for  that  purpose;  Provided,  Such 
tracts  shall  not  interfere  with  any  existing 
claim,  location,  or  survey;  nor  include  any 
salt  spring,  nor  the  lands  on  either  side  of 
the  river  Hockhocking  at  the  falls  thereof. 
"  SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That 
upon  the  said  Zane's  procuring,  at  his  own 
expense,  the  said  tracts  to  be  surveyed,  in 
such  a  way  and  manner  as  the  President  of 
the  United  States  shall  approve,  and  return 
ing  into  the  treasury  of  the  United  States 
plats  thereof,  together  with  warrents 
granted  by  the  United  States  for  military 
land  bounties,  to  the  amount  of  the  num 
ber  of  acres  contained  in  the  said  three 
tracts;  and  also,  producing  satisfactory 
proof,  by  the  first  day  of  January  next, 
that  the  aforesaid  road  is  opened,  and  fer 
ries  established  upon  the  rivers  aforesaid, 
for  the  accommodation  of  travellers,  and 
giving  security  that  such  ferries  shall  be 

most  important  entrance  point  into  Kentucky  on  its 
northeastern  river  shore-line.  What  it  was  in  earliest 
days,  because  of  the  buffalo  trail  into  the  interior,  it 
remained  down  through  the  earlier  and  later  pioneer  era 
to  the  time  of  the  building  of  the  trunk  railway  lines. 


158  PIONEER  ROADS 

maintained  during  the  pleasure  of  Con 
gress;  the  President  of  the  United  States 
shall  be,  and  he  hereby  is,  authorized  and 
empowered  to  issue  letters  patent,  in  the 
name  and  under  the  seal  of  the  United 
States,  thereby  granting  and  conveying  to 
the  said  Zane,  and  his  heirs,  the  said  tracts 
of  land  located  and  surveyed  as  aforesaid; 
which  patents  shall  be  countersigned  by 
the  secretary  of  state,  and  recorded  in  his 
office:  Provided  always  y  That  the  rates  of 
ferriage,  at  such  ferries,  shall,  from  time 
to  time,  be  ascertained  [inspected]  by  any 
two  of  the  judges  of  the  territory  north 
west  of  the  river  Ohio,  or  such  other 
authority  as  shall  be  appointed  for  that 
purpose. 

"  APPROVED  May  17,  I796."85 

Zane  evidently  went  at  once  to  work 
opening  the  road  to  Kentucky,  his  brother 
Jonathan,  and  son-in-law  John  Mclntire, 
assisting  largely  in  the  work.  The  path 
was  only  made  fit  for  horsemen,  particu 
larly  mail- carriers.  It  is  probable  that  the 

35 'United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  Private  Laws 
1789-1845,  inclusivt,  p.  27. 


ZANE'S  TRACE  169 

task  was  not  more  difficult  than  to  cut 
away  small  trees  on  an  Indian  trace.  It  is 
sure  that  for  a  greater  part  of  the  distance 
from  the  Ohio  to  the  Muskingum  the  Mingo 
Trail  was  followed,  passing  near  the  center 
of  Belmont,  Guernsey  and  Muskingum 
Counties.  The  route  to  the  southwest 
from  that  point  through  Perry,  Fan-field, 
Pickaway,  Ross,  Richland,  Adams,  and 
Brown  Counties  may  or  may  not  have  fol 
lowed  the  path  of  an  Indian  trace.  No 
proof  to  the  contrary  being  in  existence,  it 
is  most  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this, 
like  most  other  pioneer  routes,  did  follow  a 
more  or  less  plainly  outlined  Indian  path. 
The  new  road  crossed  the  Muskingum  at 
the  present  site  of  the  town  well  named 
Zanesville,  the  Hocking  at  Lancaster,  the 
Scioto  at  Chillicothe,  and  the  Ohio  at  Aber 
deen,  Ohio,  opposite  the  old-time  Lime 
stone,  Kentucky. 

One  George  Sample  was  an  early  traveler 
on  this  National  Road ;  paying  a  visit  from 
the  East  to  the  Ohio  country  in  1797,  he 
returned  homeward  by  way  of  Zane's 
Trace  or  the  Maysville  Road,  as  the  route 
was  variously  known.  After  purchasing  a 


1«0  PIONEER  ROADS 

farm  on  Brush  Creek,  Adams  County,  Ohio, 
and  locating  a  homeless  emigrant  on  it, 
Mr.  Sample  "  started  back  to  Pennsylvania 
on  horseback ' '  according  to  his  recorded 
recollections  written  in  i842;36  "  as  there 
was  no  getting  up  the  river  at  that  day.37 
In  our  homeward  trip  we  had  very  rough 
fare  when  we  had  any  at  all ;  but  having 
calculated  on  hardships,  we  were  not  dis 
appointed.  There  was  one  house  (Treiber's) 
on  Lick  branch,  five  miles  from  where 
West  Union  M  now  is. ' '  Trebar  — ~  according 
to  modern  spelling —  opened  a  tavern  on 
his  clearing  in  1 798  or  1 799,  but  at  the 
time  of  Sample's  trip  his  house  was  not 
more  public  than  the  usual  pioneer's  home 
where  the  latch-string  was  always  out.39 
"  The  next  house,"  continues  Mr.  Sample, 
"  was  where  Sinking  spring  or  Middle- 
town  is  now.40  The  next  was  at  Chilli- 

**  American  Pioneer,  vol.  i,  p.  158. 
8T  An  exaggerated  statement,  yet  much  in  accord  with 
the  truth,  as  we  have  previously  observed. 
88  County  seat  of  Adams  County,  Ohi  o 

39  Evans  and  Stivers,  History  of  Adams  County,  Ohio, 
p.  125. 

40  Wilcoxon's     clearing,   Sinking     Spring,    Highland 
County,  Ohio. — Id.,  p.  125. 


1 


ZANE'S  TRACE  163 

cothe,  which  was  just  then  commenced. 
We  encamped  one  night  at  Massie's  run, 
say  two  or  three  miles  from  the  falls  of 
Paint  creek,  where  the  trace  then  crossed 
that  stream.  From  Chillicothe  to  Lancas 
ter  the  trace  then  went  through  the  Picka- 
way  plains.  There  was  a  cabin  some  three 
or  four  miles  below  the  plains,  and  another 
at  their  eastern  edge,  and  one  or  two  more 
between  that  and  Lancaster.  Here  we 
staid  the  third  night.  From  Lancaster  we 
went  next  day  to  Zanesville,  passing 
several  small  beginnings.  I  recollect  no 
improvement  between  Zanesville  and 
Wheeling,  except  a  small  one  at  the  mouth 
of  Indian  Wheeling  creek,  opposite  to 
Wheeling.  In  this  space  we  camped 
another  night.  From  Wheeling  we  went 
home  pretty  well." 

The  matter  of  ferriage  was  a  most  im 
portant  item  on  pioneer  roads  as  indicated 
by  the  Act  of  Congress  quoted.  The 
Court  of  General  Quarter  Sessions  met  at 
Adamsville,  Adams  County,  December  12, 
1797,  and  made  the  following  the  legal 
rates  of  ferriage  across  the  Scioto  and  Ohio 
Rivers,  both  of  which  Zane's  Trace  crossed: 


164  PIONEER  ROADS 

Scioto  River : 

Man  and  horse  .         .         .  i2^£  cents. 

Single         .         .         .         .  6%     " 

Wagon  and  team        .         .  75 

Horned  cattle  (each)  . 

Ohio  River : 
Man  and  horse 
Single         .... 
Wagon  and  team        .         .       $1.15 
Horned  cattle    .         .         .  9^     "  41 

No  sooner  was  Zane's  Trace  opened  than 
the  Government  established  a  mail  route 
between  Wheeling  and  Maysville  and  Lex 
ington.  For  the  real  terminus  of  the  trace 
was  not  by  any  means  at  little  Maysville ; 
an  ancient  buffalo  route  and  well-worn 
white  man's  road  led  into  the  interior  of 
Kentucky  from  Maysville,  known  in  history 
as  the  Maysville  Road  and  Maysville  Pike. 
On  the  Ohio  side  this  mail  route  from 
Wheeling  and  Lexington  was  known  by 
many  titles  in  many  years;  it  was  the 
Limestone  Road,  the  Maysville  Pike,  the 
Limestone  and  Chillicothe  Road,  and  the 
Zanesville  Pike ;  the  Maysville  and  Zanes- 
L,  p.  88. 


ZANE'S  TRACE  165 

ville  Turnpike  was  constructed  between 
Zanesville  and  the  Ohio  River.  At  Zanes- 
ville  the  road  today  is  familiarly  known  as 
the  Maysville  Pike  while  in  Kentucky  it  is 
commonly  called  the  Zanesville  Pike. 

"  When  the  Indian  trail  gets  widened, 
graded  and  bridged  to  a  good  road,"  wrote 
Emerson,  "  there  is  a  benefactor,  there 
is  a  missionary,  a  pacificator,  a  wealth- 
bringer,  a  maker  of  markets,  a  vent  for 
industry. ' ' 42  The  little  road  here  under 
consideration  is  unique  among  American 
highways  in  its  origin  and  in  its  history. 
It  was  demanded,  not  by  war,  but  by 
civilization,  not  for  exploration  and  set 
tlement  but  by  settlements  that  were  already 
made  and  in  need  of  communion  and  com 
merce.  It  was  created  by  an  act  of  Con 
gress  as  truly  as  the  Cumberland  Road, 
which  soon  should,  in  part,  supersede  it. 
And  finally  it  was  on  the  subject  of  the 
Maysville  Turnpike  that  the  question  of 
internal  improvement  by  the  national  gov 
ernment  was  at  last  decided  when,  in  1830, 
President  Jackson  signed  that  veto  which 

43 Society  and  Solitude,   essay  on  "  Civilization,"   pp. 
25-26. 


166  PIONEER  ROADS 

made  the  name  of   Maysville  a  household 
word  throughout  the  United  States. 

In  1825,  after  a  delay  which  created  great 
suspense  in  the  West,  the  Cumberland 
Road  at  last  leaped  the  Ohio  River  at 
Wheeling.  Zane's  Trace,  now  a  wide, 
much-traveled  avenue,  offered  a  route  west 
ward  to  Zanesville  which  could  be  but  little 
improved  upon.  The  blazed  tree  gave 
way  to  the  mile-stone  and  the  pannier  and 
saddle-bag  to  the  rumbling  stagecoach  and 
the  chaise.  It  is  all  a  pretty,  quiet  picture 
and  its  story  is  totally  unlike  that  of 
Boone's  rough  path  over  the  Cumberlands. 
For  settlements  sprang  up  rapidly  in  this 
land  of  plenty;  we  have  seen  that  there 
were  beginnings  at  Chillicothe  and  Zanes 
ville  when  Sample  passed  this  way  in  1797. 
By  1800,  Zane's  lots  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Hockhocking  (first  known  as  New  Lancas 
ter,  and  later  as  Lancaster  —  from  the  town 
of  that  name  in  Pennsylvania)  were  selling ; 
his  terms  and  inducements  to  settlers, 
especially  mechanics,  are  particularly  in 
teresting.43 

43  See    Graham's    History  of  Fair  fie  Id   and  Perry 
Counties,  Ohio,  pp.  133-134. 


ZANE'S  TRACE  167 

As  intimated,  the  Kentucky  division  of 
the  Maysville  Pike  —  leading  from  the  Ohio 
River  through  Washington,  Paris,  and 
Lexington  —  became  famous  in  that  it  was 
made  a  test  case  to  determine  whether  or 
not  the  Government  had  the  right  to  assist 
in  the  building  of  purely  state  (local)  roads 
by  taking  shares  in  local  turnpike  com 
panies. 

This  much-mooted  question  was  settled 
once  for  all  by  President  Andrew  Jackson's 
veto  of  "  A  Bill  Authorizing  a  subscription 
of  stock  in  the  Maysville,  Washington, 
Paris,  and  Lexington  Turnpike  Road  Com 
pany,"  which  was  passed  by  the  House 
February  24,  1830.  It  read:44  "Be  it 
enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Con 
gress  assembled,  That  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized 
and  directed  to  subscribe,  in  the  name  and 
for  the  use  of  the  United  States,  for  fifteen 
hundred  shares  of  the  capital  stock  of  the 
Maysville,  Washington,  Paris,  and  Lexing 
ton  Turnpike  Road  Company,  and  to  pay 

"Bills  ^Resolutions,   House  Reps.,  ist  Sess,,2ist 
Cong.,  Part  a,  i82g  6»'jo,  H.  R.,  p.*28s. 


168  PIONEER  ROADS 

for  the  same  at  such  times,  and  in  such 
proportions,  as  shall  be  required  of,  and 
paid  by,  the  stockholders  generally,  by  the 
rules  and  regulations  of  the  aforesaid  com 
pany,  to  be  paid  out  of  any  money  in  the 
Treasury,  not  otherwise  appropriated:  Pro 
vided,  That  not  more  than  one-third  part 
of  the  sum,  so  subscribed  for  the  use  of 
the  United  States,  shall  be  demanded  in 
the  present  year,  nor  shall  any  greater 
sum  be  paid  on  the  shares  so  subscribed 
for,  than  shall  be  proportioned  to  assess 
ments  made  on  individual  or  corporate 
stockholders. 

"  SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That 
the  said  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall 
vote  for  the  President  and  Directors  of  the 
aforesaid  company,  according  to  such  num 
ber  of  shares  as  the  United  States  may,  at 
any  time,  hold  in  the  stock  thereof,  and 
shall  receive  upon  the  said  stock  the  pro 
portion  of  the  tolls  which  shall,  from  time 
to  time,  be  due  to  the  United  States  for 
the  shares  aforesaid,  and  shall  have  and 
enjoy,  in  behalf  of  the  United  States, 
every  other  right  of  stockholder  in  said 
Company." 


ZANE'S  TRACE  169 

In  his  first  annual  message  to  Congress, 
dated  December  8,  1829,  President  Jackson 
stated  plainly  his  attitude  to  the  great  ques 
tion  of  internal  improvements.  ' '  As  . 
the  period  approaches  when  the  application 
of  the  revenue  to  the  payment  of  [national] 
debt  will  cease,  the  disposition  of  the  sur 
plus  will  present  a  subject  for  the  serious 
deliberation  of  Congress.  .  .  Considered 
in  connection  with  the  difficulties  which 
have  heretofore  attended  appropriations  for 
purposes  of  internal  improvement,  and  with 
those  which  this  experience  tells  us  will 
certainly  arise  whenever  power  over  such 
subjects  may  be  exercised  by  the  General 
Government,  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  lead  to 
the  adoption  of  some  plan  which  will  recon 
cile  the  diversified  interests  of  the  States 
and  strengthen  the  bonds  which  unite 
them.  .  .  To  avoid  these  evils  it  appears 
to  me  that  the  most  safe,  just,  and  federal 
disposition  which  could  be  made  of  the  sur 
plus  revenue  would  be  its  apportionment 
among  the  several  States  according  to  their 
ratio  of  representation,  and  should  this 
measure  not  be  found  warranted  by  the 
Constitution  that  it  would  be  expedient  to 


170  PIONEER  ROADS 

propose  to  the  States  an  amendment 
authorizing  it."45 

In  his  veto  of  the  Maysville  Road  bill 
President  Jackson  quoted  the  above  para 
graphs  from  his  annual  message,  and,  after 
citing  both  Madison's  and  Monroe's  posi 
tions  as  to  internal  improvements  of  pure 
local  character,  continues: 

"  The  bill  before  me  does  not  call  for  a 
more  definate  opinion  upon  the  particular 
circumstances  which  will  warrent  appro 
priations  of  money  by  Congress  to  aid 
works  of  internal  improvement,  for  although 
the  extention  of  the  power  to  apply  money 
beyond  that  of  carrying  into  effect  the 
object  for  which  it  is  appropriated  has,  as 
we  have  seen,  been  long  claimed  and 
exercised  by  the  Federal  Government,  yet 
such  grants  have  always  been  professedly 
under  the  control  of  the  general  principle 
that  the  works  which  might  be  thus  aided 
should  be  '  of  a  general,  not  local,  national, 
not  State,'  character.  A  disregard  of  this 
distinction  would  of  necessity  lead  to  the 
subversion  of  the  federal  system.  That 

46  Richardson's  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presi 
dents,  vol.  ii,  pp.  451,  452. 


ZANE'S  TRACE  171 

even  this  is  an  unsafe  one,  arbitrary  in  its 
nature,  and  liable,  consequently,  to  great 
abuses,  is  too  obvious  to  require  the  con 
firmation  of  experience.  It  is,  however, 
sufficiently  definate  and  imperative  to  my 
mind  to  forbid  my  approbation  of  any  bill 
having  the  character  of  the  one  under  con 
sideration.  I  have  given  to  its  provi 
sions  .  .  reflection  .  .  but  I  am  not 
able  to  view  it  in  any  other  light  than  as  a 
measure  of  purely  local  character ;  or,  if  it 
can  be  considered  national,  that  no  further 
distinction  between  the  appropriate  duties 
of  the  General  and  State  Governments 
need  be  attempted,  for  there  can  be  no 
local  interest  that  may  not  with  equal 
propriety  be  denominated  national.  It  has 
no  connection  with  any  established  system 
of  improvements ;  is  exclusively  within  the 
limits  of  a  State,  starting  at  a  point  on  the 
Ohio  River  and  running  out  60  miles  to  an 
interior  town,  and  even  as  far  as  the  State 
is  interested  conferring  partial  instead  of 
general  advantages. 

"  Considering  the  magnitude  and  import 
ance  of  the  power,  and  the  embarrassments 
to  which,  from  the  very  nature  of  the 


172  PIONEER  ROADS 

thing,  its  exercise  must  necessarily  be  sub 
jected,  the  real  friends  of  internal  improve 
ment  ought  not  to  be  willing  to  confide  it 
to  accident  and  chance.  What  is  properly 
national  in  its  character  or  otherwise  is  an 
inquiry  which  is  often  extremely  difficult 
of  solution. 

[<  If  it  be  the  wish  of  the  people 
that  the  construction  of  roads  and  canals 
should  be  conducted  by  the  Federal 
Government,  it  is  not  only  highly 
expedient,  but  indispensably  necessary, 
that  a  previous  amendment  of  the  Consti 
tution,  delegating  the  necessary  power  and 
defining  and  restricting  its  exercise  with 
reference  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  States, 
should  be  made.  The  right  to  exercise  as 
much  jurisdiction  as  is  necessary  to  pre 
serve  the  works  and  to  raise  funds  by  the 
collection  of  tolls  to  keep  them  in  repair 
can  not  be  dispensed  with.  The  Cumber 
land  Road  should  be  an  instructive  admoni 
tion  of  the  consequences  of  acting  without 
this  right.  Year  after  year  contests  are 
witnessed,  growing  out  of  efforts  to  obtain 
the  necessary  appropriations  for  completing 
and  repairing  this  useful  work.  Whilst 


g  *;ZANEr^  TRACE  173 

one  Congress  may  claim  and  exercise  the 
power,  a  succeeding  one  may  deny  it ;  and 
this  fluctuation  of  opinion  must  be  una 
voidably  fatal  to  any  scheme  which  from  its 
extent  would  promote  the  interests  and  ele 
vate  the  character  of  the  country. 

"  That  a  constitutional  adjustment  of  this 
power  upon  equitable  principles  is  in  the 
highest  degree  desirable  can  scarcely  be 
doubted,  nor  can  it  fail  to  be  promoted  by 
every  sincere  friend  to  the  success  of  our 
political  institutions."  46 

The  effect  of  Jackson's  veto  was  far- 
reaching.  It  not  only  put  an  end  to  all 
thought  of  national  aid  to  such  local  im 
provements  as  the  Maysville  Turnpike,  but 
deprived  such  genuinely  national  promo 
tions  as  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway  of 
all  hope  of  national  aid.  "  President  Jack 
son  had  strongly  expressed  his  opposition  to 
aiding  state  enterprises  and  schemes  of 
internal  improvement  by  appropriations 
from  the  central  government,"  records  a 
historian  of  that  great  enterprise;  "  from 
whatever  source  the  opposition  may  have 
come,  the  [Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway] 

"id.,  pp,  483-493- 


174  PIONEER  ROADS 

company  recognized  that  it  must  not  hope 
for  aid  from  the  national  government."  47 
The  significance  of  Jackson's  veto  could 
not  be  more  strongly  presented. 

47  Reizenstein's  "  The  Economic  History  of  the  Balti 
more  and  Ohio  Railroad,"  Johns  Hopkins  Studies 
in  Historical  and  Political  Science,  fifteenth  series, 
vii-viii,  p.  23. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PIONEER   TRAVEL   IN   KENTUCKY 

THE   following   interesting   and   vivid 
picture  of  early  travel  in  Kentucky 
is  taken  from  Judge  James   Hall's 
Legends   of  the    West    (Philadelphia,    1832); 
though    largely    a   work    of    fiction,    such 
descriptions  as  these  are  as  lifelike  as  the 
original  picture. 

The  place  at  which  the  party  landed 
was  a  small  village  on  the  bank  of  the 
[Ohio]  river,  distant  about  fifty  miles  from 
a  settlement  in  the  interior  to  which  they 
were  destined. 

"  Here  we  are  on  dry  land  once  more," 
said  the  Englishman  as  he  jumped  ashore ; 
"  come,  Mr.  Logan,  let  us  go  to  the  stage- 
house  and  take  our  seats."  Logan  smiled, 
and  followed  his  companion. 

"  My  good  friend,"  said  Edgarton,  to  a 
tall,  sallow  man  in  a  hunting-shirt,  who  sat 


176  PIONEER  ROADS 

on  a  log  by  the  river  with  a  rifle  in  his  lap, 
' '  can  you  direct  us  to  the  stage-house  ? ' ' 

"  Well,  I  can't  say  that  I  can." 

"  Perhaps  you  do  not  understand  what 
we  want,"  said  Edgarton;  "  we  wish  to 
take  seats  in  a  mail-coach  for . ' ' 

"  Well,  stranger,  it's  my  sentimental 
belief  that  there  isn't  a  coach,  male  or 
female,  in  the  county." 

"  This  fellow  is  ignorant  of  our  mean 
ing,"  said  Edgarton  to  Logan. 

"  What's  that  you  say,  stranger?  I  spose 
maybe  you  think  I  never  seed  a  coach? 
Well,  it's  a  free  country,  and  every  man  has 
a  right  to  think  what  he  pleases;  but  I 
reckon  I've  saw  as  many  of  them  are  fixens 
as  any  other  man.  I  was  raised  in  Ten 
nessee.  I  saw  General  Jackson  once  riding 
in  the  elegantest  carriage  that  ever  mortal 
man  sot  his  eyes  on  —  with  glass  winders 
to  it  like  a  house,  and  sort  <f  silk  cur  tings. 
The  harness  was  mounted  with  silver;  it 
was  drawd  by  four  blooded  nags,  and  druv 
by  a  mighty  likely  nigger  boy/' 

The  travellers  passed  on,  and  soon 
learned  that  there  was  indeed  no  stage  in 
the  country.  Teams  and  carriages  of  any 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  177 

kind  were  difficult  to  be  procured ;  and  it 
was  with  some  difficulty  that  two  stout 
wagons  were  at  last  hired  to  carry  Mr. 
Edgarton's  movables,  and  a  dearborn  ob 
tained  to  convey  his  family,  it  being  agreed 
that  one  of  the  gentlemen  should  drive 
the  latter  vehicle  while  the  other  walked, 
alternately.  Arrangements  were  accord 
ingly  made  to  set  out  the  next  morning. 

The  settlement  in  which  Mr.  Edgarton 
had  judiciously  determined  to  pitch  his 
tent,  and  enjoy  the  healthful  innocence  and 
rural  felicity  of  the  farmer's  life,  was  new; 
and  the  country  to  be  traversed  to  reach  it 
entirely  unsettled.  There  were  two  or 
three  houses  scattered  through  the  wilder 
ness  on  the  road,  one  of  which  the  party 
might  have  reached  by  setting  out  early  in 
the  morning,  and  they  had  determined  to 
do  so.  But  there  was  so  much  fixing  and 
preparing  to  be  done,  so  much  stowing  of 
baggage  and  packing  of  trunks,  such 
momentous  preparations  to  guard  against 
cold  and  heat,  hunger  and  thirst,  fatigue, 
accident,  robbery,  disease,  and  death,  that 
it  was  near  noon  before  the  cavalcade  was 
prepared  to  move.  Even  then  they  were 


178  PIONEER  ROADS 

delayed  some  minutes  longer  to  give  Mr. 
Edgarton  time  to  oil  the  screws  and  renew 
the  charges  of  his  double-barrel  gun  and 
pocket-pistols.  In  vain  he  was  told  there 
were  no  highwaymen  in  America.  His 
way  lay  chiefly  through  uninhabited  forests ; 
and  he  considered  it  a  fact  in  natural  his 
tory,  as  indisputable  as  any  other  elemen 
tary  principle,  that  every  such  forest  has 
its  robbers.  After  all,  he  entirely  neglected 
to  put  flints  in  his  bran  new  locks 
instead  of  the  wooden  substitutes  which 
the  maker  had  placed  there  to  protect  his 
work  from  injury;  and  thus  "  doubly 
armed,"  he  announced  his  readiness  to 
start  with  an  air  of  truly  comic  heroism. 

When  they  began  their  journey,  new 
terrors  arose.  The  road  was  sufficiently 
plain  and  firm  for  all  rational  purposes; 
that  is  to  say,  it  would  do  very  well  for  those 
who  only  wanted  to  get  along,  and  were 
content  to  make  the  best  of  it.  It  was  a 
mere  path  beaten  by  a  succession  of  travel 
lers.  No  avenue  had  been  cut  for  it  through 
the  woods;  but  the  first  pioneers  had 
wound  their  way  among  the  trees,  avoiding 
obstacles  by  going  round  them,  as  the 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  179 

snake  winds  through  the  grass,  and  those 
who  followed  had  trodden  in  their  foot 
steps,  until  they  had  beaten  a  smooth  road 
sufficiently  wide  to  admit  the  passage  of  a 
single  wagon.  On  either  side  was  the  thick 
forest,  sometimes  grown  up  with  under 
brush  to  the  margin  of  the  trace,  and  some 
times  so  open  as  to  allow  the  eye  to  roam 
off  to  a  considerable  distance.  Above  was 
a  dense  canopy  of  interwoven  branches. 
The  wild  and  lonesome  appearance,  the 
deep  shade,  the  interminable  gloom  of  the 
woods,  were  frightful  to  our  travellers. 
The  difference  between  a  wild  forest  in 
the  simple  majesty  of  nature,  and  the  wood 
lands  of  cultivated  countries,  is  very  great. 
In  the  latter  the  underbrush  has  been  re 
moved  by  art  or  destroyed  by  domestic 
animals;  the  trees  as  they  arrive  at  their 
growth  are  felled  for  use,  and  the  remain 
der,  less  crowded,  assume  the  spreading 
and  rounded  form  of  cultivated  trees. 
The  sunbeams  reach  the  soil  through  the 
scattered  foliage,  the  ground  is  trodden 
by  grazing  animals,  and  a  hard  sod  is 
formed.  However  secluded  such  a  spot 
may  be,  it  bears  the  marks  of  civilization ; 


180  PIONEER  ROADS 

the  lowing  of  cattle  is  heard,  and  many 
species  of  songsters  that  hover  round  the 
habitations  of  men,  and  are  never  seen  in 
the  wilderness,  here  warble  their  notes.  In 
the  western  forests  of  America  all  is  grand 
and  savage.  The  truth  flashes  instantly  up 
on  the  mind  of  the  observer,  with  the  force 
of  conviction,  that  Nature  has  been  carrying 
on  her  operations  here  for  ages  undis 
turbed.  The  leaf  has  fallen  from  year  to 
year ;  succeeding  generations  of  trees  have 
mouldered,  spreading  over  the  surface 
layer  upon  layer  of  decayed  fibre,  until  the 
soil  has  acquired  an  astonishing  depth  and 
an  unrivalled  fertility.  From  this  rich  bed 
the  trees  are  seen  rearing  their  shafts  to  an 
astonishing  height.  The  tendency  of 
plants  towards  the  light  is  well  understood ; 
of  course,  when  trees  are  crowded  closely 
together,  instead  of  spreading,  they  shoot 
upwards,  each  endeavouring,  as  it  were,  to 
overtop  his  neighbours,  and  expending  the 
whole  force  of  the  vegetative  powers  in 
rearing  a  great  trunk  to  the  greatest  possi 
ble  height,  and  then  throwing  out  a  top 
like  an  umbrella  to  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
The  functions  of  vitality  are  carried  on  with 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  181 

vigor  at  the  extremities,  while  the  long 
stem  is  bare  of  leaves  or  branches;  and 
when  the  undergrowth  is  removed  nothing 
can  exceed  the  gloomy  grandeur  of  the 
elevated  arches  of  foliage,  supported  by 
pillars  of  majestic  size  and  venerable  ap 
pearance.  The  great  thickness  and  age  of 
many  of  the  trees  is  another  striking 
peculiarity.  They  grow  from  age  to  age, 
attaining  a  gigantic  size,  and  then  fall,  with 
a  tremendous  force,  breaking  down  all  that 
stands  in  their  downward  way,  and  heaping 
a  great  pile  of  timber  on  the  ground,  where 
it  remains  untouched  until  it  is  converted 
into  soil.  Mingled  with  all  our  timber  are 
seen  aspiring  vines,  which  seem  to  have 
commenced  their  growth  with  that  of  the 
young  trees,  and  risen  with  them,  their 
tops  still  flourishing  together  far  above  the 
earth,  while  their  stems  are  alike  bare. 
The  undergrowth  consists  of  dense  thickets, 
made  up  of  the  offspring  of  the  larger  trees, 
mixed  with  thorns,  briers,  dwarfish  vines, 
and  a  great  variety  of  shrubs.  The  ground 
is  never  covered  with  a  firm  sward,  and 
seldom  bears  the  grasses,  or  smaller  plants, 
being  covered  from  year  to  year  with  a 


182  PIONEER  ROADS 

dense  mass  of  dried  and  decaying  leaves, 
and  shrouded  in  eternal  shade. 

Such  was  the  scene  that  met  the  eyes  of 
our  travellers,  and  had  they  been  treated  to 
a  short  excursion  to  the  moon  they  would 
scarcely  have  witnessed  any  thing  more 
novel.  The  wide-spread  and  trackless  ocean 
had  scarcely  conveyed  to  their  imagina 
tions  so  vivid  an  impression  of  the  vast  and 
solitary  grandeur  of  Nature,  in  her  path 
less  wildernesses.  They  could  hardly 
realize  the  expectation  of  travelling  safely 
through  such  savage  shades.  The  path, 
which  could  be  seen  only  a  few  yards  in 
advance,  seemed  continually  to  have  termi 
nated,  leaving  them  no  choice  but  to  retrace 
their  steps.  Sometimes  they  came  to  a 
place  where  a  tree  had  fallen  across  the 
road,  and  Edgarton  would  stop  under  the 
supposition  that  any  further  attempt  to 
proceed  was  hopeless  —  until  he  saw  the 
American  drivers  forsaking  the  track, 
guiding  their  teams  among  the  trees, 
crushing  down  the  young  saplings  that 
stood  in  their  way,  and  thus  winding  round 
the  obstacle,  and  back  to  the  road,  often 
through  thickets  so  dense,  that  to  the 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  183 

stranger's  eye  it  seemed  as  if  neither  man 
nor  beast  could  penetrate  them.  Some 
times  on  reaching  the  brink  of  a  ravine  or 
small  stream,  the  bridge  of  logs,  which 
previous  travellers  had  erected,  was  found 
to  be  broken  down,  or  the  ford  rendered 
impassable;  and  the  wagoners  with  the 
same  imperturbable  good  nature,  and  as  if 
such  accidents  were  matters  of  course, 
again  left  the  road,  and  seeking  out  a  new 
crossing-place,  passed  over  with  scarcely 
the  appearance  of  difficulty. 

Once  they  came  to  a  sheet  of  water, 
extending  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the 
tall  trees  standing  in  it  as  thickly  as  upon 
the  dry  ground,  with  tufts  of  grass  and 
weeds  instead  of  the  usual  undergrowth. 

"Is  there  a  ferry  here?"  inquired 
Edgarton. 

"  Oh  no,  sir,  it's  nothing  but  a  slash." 

11  What's  that?" 

"  Why,  sir,  jist  a  sort  o'  swamp." 

11  What  in  the  world  shall  we  do? " 

"  We'll  jist  put  right  ahead,  sir;  there's 
no  dif -yfc/£-ulty ;  it's  nice  good  driving  all 
about  here.  It's  sort  o'  muddy,  but  there's 
good  bottom  to  it  all  the  way." 


184  PIONEER  ROADS 

On  they  went.  To  Edgarton  it  was  like 
going  to  sea ;  for  no  road  could  be  seen ; 
nothing  but  the  trackless  surface  of  the 
water;  but  instead  of  looking  down,  where 
his  eye  could  have  penetrated  to  the  bot 
tom,  he  was  glancing  forward  in  the  vain 
hope  of  seeing  dry  land.  Generally  the 
water  was  but  a  few  inches  deep,  but  some 
times  they  soused  into  a  hole ;  then  Edgar- 
ton  groaned  and  the  ladies  screamed ;  and 
sometimes  it  got  gradually  deeper  until  the 
hubs  of  the  wheels  were  immersed,  and 
the  Englishman  then  called  to  the  wagoners 
to  stop. 

"  Don't  be  afeard,  sir,"  one  of  them 
replied,  ''it  is  not  bad;  why  this  ain't 
nothing;  it's  right  good  going;  it  ain't 
a-going  to  swim  your  horse,  no  how." 

"  Anything  seems   a   good  road  to  you 
where  the  horse  will  not  have  to  swim, 
replied  the  Englishman  surlily. 

"  Why,  bless  you,"  said  the  backwoods 
man,  "this  ain't  no  part  of  a  priming  to 
places  that  I've  seed  afore,  no  how.  I've 
seed  race  paths  in  a  worse  fix  than  this. 
Don't  you  reckon,  stranger,  that  if  my  team 
can  drag  this  here  heavy  wagon,  loaded 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  185 

down  with  plunder,  you  can  sartainly  get 
along  with  that  ar  little  carry-all,  and 
nothing  on  the  face  of  the  yeath  to  tote, 
but  jist  the  women  and  children? " 

They  had  but  one  such  swamp  to  pass. 
It  was  only  about  half  a  mile  wide,  and 
after  travelling  that  far  through  the  water, 
the  firm  soil  of  the  woods,  which  before 
seemed  gloomy,  became  cheerful  by  con 
trast;  and  Edgarton  found  at  last,  that 
however  unpleasant  such  travelling  may 
be  to  those  who  are  not  accustomed  to  it, 
it  has  really  no  dangers  but  such  as  are 
imaginary. 

As  the  cavalcade  proceeded  slowly,  the 
ladies  found  it  most  pleasant  to  walk  wher 
ever  the  ground  was  sufficiently  dry.  Mrs. 
Edgarton  and  the  children  might  be  seen 
sauntering  along,  and  keeping  close  to  the 
carriage,  for  fear  of  being  lost  or  captured 
by  some  nondescript  monster  of  the  wild, 
yet  often  halting  to  gather  nosegays  of 
wild  flowers,  or  to  examine  some  of  the 
many  natural  curiosities  which  surrounded 
them.  .  . 

The  sun  was  about  to  set  when  the 
wagoners  halted  at  an  open  spot,  covered 


186  PIONEER  ROADS 

with  a  thick  carpet  of  short  grass,  on  the 
margin  of  a  small  stream  of  clear  water. 
On  inquiring  the  reason,  Mr.  Edgarton 
was  assured  that  this  was  the  best  camp 
ground  on  the  route,  and  as  there  was  no 
house  within  many  miles,  it  was  advisable 
to  make  arrangements  for  passing  the  night 
there. 

' '  Impossible ! ' '  exclaimed  the  European 
gentleman ;  '  *  what !  lie  on  the  ground  like 
beasts !  we  shall  all  catch  our  death  of  cold ! ' ' 

' '  I  should  never  live  through  the  night, ' ' 
groaned  his  fair  partner. 

"  Don't  let  us  stay  here  in  the  dark, 
papa,"  cried  the  children. 

Logan  expressed  the  opinion  that  an 
encampment  might  be  made  quite  com 
fortable,  and  the  sentimental  Julia  declared 
that  it  would  be  "  delightful!  "  Edgarton 
imprecated  maledictions  on  the  beggarly 
country  which  could  not  afford  inns  for 
travellers,  and  wondered  if  they  expected  a 
gentleman  to  nestle  among  the  leaves  like 
Robin  Hood's  foresters. 

This  storm,  like  other  sudden  gusts,  soon 
blew  over,  and  the  party  began  in  earnest 
to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  business  by  ren- 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  187 

dering  their  situation  as  comfortable  as 
possible.  The  wagoners,  though  highly 
amused  at  the  fears  of  their  companions, 
showed  great  alacrity  and  kindness  in  their 
endeavours  to  dissipate  the  apprehensions 
and  provide  for  the  comfort  of  foreigners; 
and,  assisted  by  Mr.  Logan,  soon  pre 
pared  a  shelter.  This  was  made  by  plant 
ing  some  large  stakes  in  the  ground,  in  the 
form  of  a  square,  filling  up  the  sides  and 
covering  the  tops  with  smaller  poles,  and 
suspending  blankets  over  and  around  it,  so 
as  to  form  a  complete  enclosure.  Mrs. 
Edgarton  had  a  carpet  taken  from  the 
wagons  and  spread  on  the  ground ;  on  this 
the  beds  were  unpacked  and  laid,  trunks 
were  arranged  for  seats,  and  the  emigrants 
surprised  at  finding  themselves  in  a  com 
fortable  apartment,  became  as  merry  as 
they  had  been  before  despondent.  A  fire 
was  kindled  and  the  teakettle  boiled,  and 
there  being  a  large  store  of  bread  and  pro 
visions  already  prepared,  an  excellent 
repast  was  soon  placed  before  them,  and 
eaten  with  the  relish  produced  by  severe 
exercise. 

The   night   had   now  closed  in,  but  the 


188  PIONEER  ROADS 

blaze  of  a  large  fire  and  the  light  of 
several  candles  threw  a  brilliant  gleam 
over  the  spot  and  heightened  the  cheerful 
ness  of  the  evening  meal.  The  arrange 
ments  for  sleeping  were  very  simple.  The 
tent,  which  had  been  divided  into  two 
apartments  by  a  curtain  suspended  in  the 
middle,  accommodated  all  of  Mr.  Edgar- 
ton's  household:  Logan  drew  on  his  great 
coat,  and  spreading  a  single  blanket  on  the 
ground,  threw  himself  down  with  his  feet 
to  the  fire ;  the  teamsters  crept  into  their 
wagons,  and  the  several  parties  soon  en 
joyed  that  luxury  which,  if  Shakspeare 
may  be  believed,  is  often  denied  to  the 
"  head  that  wears  a  crown." 

The  light  of  the  morning  brought  with 
it  cheerfulness  and  merriment.  Refreshed 
from  the  fatigues  of  the  preceding  day, 
inspired  with  new  confidence,  and  amused 
by  the  novelties  that  surrounded  them,  the 
emigrants  were  in  high  spirits.  Breakfast 
was  hastily  prepared,  and  the  happy  party, 
seated  in  a  circle  on  the  grass,  enjoyed 
their  meal  with  a  keen  relish.  The  horses 
were  then  harnessed  and  the  cavalcade 
renewed  its  march. 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  189 

The  day  was  far  advanced  when  they 
began  to  rise  to  more  elevated  ground  than 
that  over  which  they  had  travelled.  The 
appearance  of  the  woods  was  sensibly 
changed.  They  were  now  travelling  over 
a  high  upland  tract  with  a  gently- waving 
surface,  and  instead  of  the  rank  vegetation, 
the  dense  foliage  and  gloomy  shades  by 
which  they  had  been  surrounded,  beheld 
woodlands  composed  of  smaller  trees 
thinly  scattered  and  intermingled  with  rich 
thickets  of  young  timber.  The  growth 
though  thick  was  low,  so  that  the  rays  of 
the  sun  penetrated  through  many  openings, 
and  the  beaten  path  which  they  pursued 
was  entirely  exposed,  to  the  genial  beams. 
Groves  of  the  wild  apple,  the  plum,  and  the 
cherry,  now  in  full  bloom,  added  a  rich 
beauty  to  the  scene  and  a  delightful  frag 
rance  to  the  air. 

But  the  greatest  natural  curiosity  and  the 
most  attractive  scenic  exhibitions  of  our 
Western  hemisphere  was  still  in  reserve ; 
and  a  spontaneous  expression  of  wonder 
and  delight  burst  from  the  whole  party,  as 
they  emerged  from  the  woods  and  stood  on 
the  edge  of  a  prairie.  They  entered  a 


190  PIONEER  ROADS 

long  vista,  carpeted  with  grass,  interspersed 
with,  numberless  flowers,  among  which  the 
blue  violet  predominated ;  while  the  edges 
of  the  forest  on  either  hand  were  elegantly 
fringed  with  low  thickets  loaded  with  blos 
soms —  those  of  the  plum  and  cherry  of 
snowy  whiteness,  and  those  of  the  crab- 
apple  of  a  delicate  pink.  Above  and 
beyond  these  were  seen  the  rich  green,  the 
irregular  outline,  and  the  variegated  light 
and  shade  of  the  forest.  As  if  to  produce 
the  most  beautiful  perspective,  and  to  afford 
every  variety  of  aspect,  the  vista  increased 
in  width  until  it  opened  like  the  estuary  of 
a  great  river  into  the  broad  prairie,  and  as 
our  travellers  advanced  the  woodlands 
receded  on  either  hand,  and  sometimes 
indented  by  smaller  avenues  opening  into 
the  woods,  and  sometimes  throwing  out 
points  of  timber,  so  that  the  boundary  of 
the  plain  resembled  the  irregular  outline  of 
a  shore  as  traced  on  a  map. 

Delighted  with  the  lovely  aspect  of 
Nature  in  these  the  most  tasteful  of  her 
retreats,  the  party  lingered  along  until  they 
reached  the  margin  of  the  broad  prairie, 
where  a  noble  expanse  of  scenery  of  the 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  193 

same  character  was  spread  out  on  a  larger 
scale.  They  stood  on  a  rising  ground,  and 
beheld  before  them  a  vast  plain,  undulating 
in  its  surface  so  as  to  present  to  the  eye  a 
series  of  swells  and  depressions,  never 
broken  nor  abrupt,  but  always  regular, 
and  marked  by  curved  lines.  Here  and 
there  was  seen  a  deep  ravine  or  drain,  by 
which  the  superfluous  water  was  carried 
off,  the  sides  of  which  were  thickly  set  with 
willows.  Clumps  of  elm  and  oak  were 
scattered  about  far  apart  like  little  islands ; 
a  few  solitary  trees  were  seen,  relieving 
the  eye  as  it  wandered  over  the  ocean-like 
surface  of  this  native  meadow. 

It  so  happened  that  a  variety  of  accidents 
and  delays  impeded  the  progress  of  our 
emigrants,  so  that  the  shadows  of  evening 
began  to  fall  upon  them,  while  they  were 
yet  far  from  the  termination  of  their  jour 
ney,  and  it  became  necessary  again  to  seek 
a  place  of  repose  for  the  night.  The  pros, 
pect  of  encamping  again  had  lost  much  of 
its  terrors,  but  they  were  relieved  from  the 
contemplation  of  this  last  resource  of  the 
houseless,  by  the  agreeable  information 
that  they  were  drawing  near  the  house  of 


194  PIONEER  ROADS 


modating  travellers."  It  was  further  ex 
plained  that  Mr.  Goodman  did  not  keep  a 
public-house,  but  that  he  was  "  well  off," 
"  had  houseroom  enough,  and  plenty  to 
eat,"  and  that  "  of  course ',"  according  to 
the  hospitable  customs  of  the  country,  he 
entertained  any  strangers  who  sought  shel 
ter  under  his  roof.  Thither  they  bent  their 
steps,  anticipating  from  the  description  of 
it  a  homestead  much  larger  and  more  com 
fortable  than  the  cheerless-looking  log- 
cabins  which  had  thus  far  greeted  their 
eyes,  and  which  seemed  to  compose  the 
only  dwellings  of  the  population. 

On  arriving  at  the  place,  they  were  a 
little  disappointed  to  find  that  the  abund 
ance  of  houseroom  which  had  been  promised 
them  was  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  an 
idiomatic  expression  by  a  native,  having 
a  comparative  signification.  The  dwelling 
was  a  log  house,  differing  from  others  only 
in  being  of  a  larger  size  and  better  con 
struction.  .  The  logs  were  hewed  and 
squared  instead  of  being  put  up  in  their 
original  state,  with  the  bark  on;  the  aper 
tures  were  carefully  closed,  and  the  open- 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  195 

ings  representing  windows,  instead  of 
being  stopped  when  urgent  occasion  re 
quired  the  exclusion  of  the  atmosphere,  by 
hats,  old  baskets,  or  cast-off  garments,  were 
filled  with  glass,  in  imitation  of  the  dwell 
ings  of  more  highly  civilized  lands.  The 
wealth  of  this  farmer,  consisting  chiefly  of 
the  plenty  to  eat  which  had  been  boasted, 
was  amply  illustrated  by  the  noisy  and 
numerous  crowd  of  chickens,  ducks, 
turkeys,  pigs,  and  cattle,  that  cackled, 
gobbled,  and  grunted  about  the  house, 
filling  the  air  with  social  though  discordant 
sounds,  and  so  obstructing  the  way  as 
scarcely  to  leave  room  for  the  newly- arrived 
party  to  approach  the  door. 

As  the  cavalcade  halted,  the  foremost 
driver  made  the  fact  known  by  a  vociferous 
salutation. 

' '  Hal-low !     Who  keeps  house  ? ' ' 
A  portly  dame  made  her  appearance  at 
the  door,  and  was  saluted  with, — 
' '  How  de  do,  ma'am  —  all  well,  ma'am  ? ' ' 
"  All  right  well,  thank  you,  sir." 
"  Here's  some  strangers  that  wants  lodg 
ing;   can   we   get  to   stay  all   night  with 
you?" 


196  PIONEER  ROADS 

"  Well,  I  don't  know;  he  s  not  at  home, 
and  I  harly  know  what  to  say." 

"  I'll  answer  for  him"  replied  the  driver, 
who  understood  distinctly  that  the  pronoun 
used  so  emphatically  by  the  good  lady 
alluded  to  her  inferior  moiety;  "  he 
wouldn't  turn  away  strangers  at  this  time 
of  day  when  the  chickens  is  jist  goin  to 
roost.  We've  ben  a  travellin  all  day,  and 
our  critters  is  mighty  tired  and  hungry,  as 
well  as  the  rest  of  us." 

"  Well,"  said  the  woman,  very  cheer 
fully,  "  I  reckon  you  can  stay;  if  you  can 
put  up  with  such  fare  as  we  have,  you  are 
very  welcome.  My  man  will  be  back  soon ; 
he's  only  jist  gone  up  to  town." 

The  whole  party  were  now  received  into 
the  dwelling  of  the  backwoodsman  by  the 
smiling  and  voluble  hostess,  whose  assidu 
ous  cordiality  placed  them  at  once  at  their 
ease  in  spite  of  the  plain  and  primitive,  and 
to  them  uncomfortable  aspect  of  the  log 
house.  Indeed,  nothing  could  be  more 
uninviting  in  appearance  to  those  who 
were  accustomed  only  to  the  more  con 
venient  dwellings  of  a  state  of  society 
farther  advanced  in  the  arts  of  social  life. 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  197 

It  was  composed  of  two  large  apartments 
or  separate  cabins,  connected  by  an  area  or 
space  which  was  floored  and  roofed,  but 
open  at  the  sides,  and  which  served  as  a 
convenient  receptacle  to  hang  saddles, 
bridles,  and  harness,  or  to  stow  travellers' 
baggage,  while  in  fine  weather  it  served  as 
a  place  in  which  to  eat  or  sit. 

In  the  room  into  which  our  party  was 
shown  there  was  neither  plastering  nor 
paper,  nor  any  device  of  modern  ingenuity 
to  conceal  the  bare  logs  that  formed  the 
sides  of  the  house,  neither  was  there  a 
carpet  on  the  floor,  nor  any  furniture  for 
mere  ornament.  The  absence  of  all  super 
fluities  and  of  many  of  the  conveniences 
usually  deemed  essential  in  household 
economy  was  quite  striking.  A  table,  a 
few  chairs,  a  small  looking-glass,  some 
cooking  utensils,  and  a  multitudinous  array 
of  women's  apparel,  hung  round  on  wooden 
pins,  as  if  for  show,  made  up  the  meagre 
list,  whether  for  parade  or  use,  with  the 
addition  of  several  bedsteads  closely  ranged 
on  one  side  of  the  room,  supporting  beds 
of  the  most  plethoric  and  dropsical  dimen 
sions,  covered  with  clean  cotton  bedding, 


198  PIONEER  ROADS 

and  ostentatiously  tricked  out  with  gaudy, 
parti-colored  quilts. 

The  "  man  "  soon  made  his  appearance, 
a  stout,  weatherbeaten  person,  of  rough 
exterior,  but  not  less  hospitably  disposed 
than  his  better  half,  and  the  whole  house 
hold  were  now  actively  astir  to  furnish 
forth  the  evening's  repast,  nor  was  their 
diligent  kindness,  nor  the  inquisitive  though 
respectful  cross-examination  which  accom 
panied  it,  at  all  diminished  when  they  dis 
covered  that  their  guests  were  English 
people.  Soon  the  ample  fire-place,  extend 
ing  almost  across  one  end  of  the  house,  was 
piled  full  of  blazing  logs;  the  cries  of 
affrighted  fowls  and  other  significant  notes 
of  preparation  announced  that  active  opera 
tions  were  commenced  in  the  culinary  de 
partment.  An  array  of  pots  and  kettles, 
skillets,  ovens,  and  frying-pans,  covered 
the  hearth,  and  the  astonished  travellers 
discovered  that  the  room  they  occupied  was 
not  only  used  as  a  bedchamber,  but 
"  served  them  for  parlour,  and  kitchen, 
and  hall." 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  the 
processes  of  making  bread,  cooking  meat 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  199 

and  vegetables,  and  preparing  the  delight 
ful  beverage  of  the  evening  meal,  a  portion 
of  which  took  place  in  the  presence  of  the 
surprised  and  amused  guests,  while  other 
parts  were  conducted  under  a  shed  out  of 
doors.  A  large  table  was  soon  spread  with 
clean  linen,  and  covered  with  a  profusion 
of  viands  such  as  probably  could  not  be 
found  on  the  board  of  the  mere  peasant  or 
labouring  farmer  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world.48  Coffee  was  there,  with  sweet  milk 
and  buttermilk  in  abundance;  fried 
chickens,  venison,  and  ham:  cheese,  sweet 
meats,  pickles,  dried  fruit,  and  honey; 
bread  of  wheat  and  corn,  hot  biscuits  and 

48 1  cannot  resist  the  opportunity  of  nailing  to  the 
counter  a  wretched  fabrication  of  some  traveller,  who 
represents  himself  as  dismounting  at  a  Western  house 
of  entertainment,  and  inquiring  the  price  of  a  dinner. 
The  answer  is,  "  Well,  stranger  —  with  wheat  bread  and 
chicken  fixens,  it  would  be  fifty  cents,  but  with  corn 
bread  and  common  doins,  twenty-five  cents."  The 
slang  here  used  is  of  the  writer's  own  invention.  No 
one  ever  heard  in  the  West  of  "  chicken  fixens,"  or 
"common  doins."  On  such  occasions,  the  table  is 
spread  with  everything  that  the  house  affords,  or  with 
whatever  may  be  convenient,  according  to  the  means 
and  temper  of  the  entertainers.  A  meal  is  a  meal,  and 
the  cost  is  the  same,  whether  it  be  plentiful  or  other 
wise. —  HALL. 


200  PIONEER  ROADS 

cakes,  with  fresh  butter;  all  well  prepared 
and  neat,  and  all  pressed  upon  the  hungry 
travellers  with  officious  hospitality.  Had 
the  entertainment  been  furnished  in  regal 
style  at  some  enchanted  castle  by  invisible 
hands,  the  guests  could  scarcely  have  been 
more  surprised  by  the  profusion  and 
variety  of  the  backwoods  repast,  so  far  did 
the  result  produced  exceed  the  apparent 
means  afforded  by  the  desolate-looking  and 
scantily-furnished  cabin. 

If  our  worthy  travellers  were  surprised 
by  the  novelties  of  backwoods  inn-hos 
pitality  which  thus  far  had  pressed  upon 
them,  how  much  was  their  wonder  in 
creased  when  the  hour  for  retiring  arrived, 
and  the  landlady  apologized  for  being 
obliged  to  separate  guests  from  their  hosts. 

*'  Our  family  is  so  large,"  said  the 
woman,  "  that  we  have  to  have  two  rooms. 
I  shall  have  to  put  all  of  you  strangers  into 
a  room  by  yourselves." 

The  party  were  accordingly  conducted 
into  the  other  apartment,  which  was 
literally  filled  with  arrangements  for 
sleeping,  there  being  several  bedsteads, 
each  of  which  was  closely  curtained  with 


TRAVEL  IN  KENTUCKY  201 

sheets,  blankets,  and  coverlids  hung  around 
it  for  the  occasion,  while  the  whole  floor 
was  strewed  with  pallets.  Here  Mr. 
Edgarton  and  his  whole  party,  including 
Logan  and  the  teamsters,  were  expected  to 
sleep.  A  popular  poet,  in  allusion  to  this 
patriarchal  custom,  impertinently  remarks, 

Some  cavillers 

Object  to  sleep  with  fellow-travellers. 

And  on  this  occasion  the  objection  was 
uttered  vehemently,  the  ladies  declaring 
that  martyrdom  in  any  shape  would  be 
preferable  to  lodging  thus  like  a  drove  of 
cattle.  Unreasonable  as  such  scruples 
might  have  seemed,  they  were  so  per 
tinaciously  adhered  to  on  the  one  side,  and 
so  obstinately  resisted  by  the  exceedingly 
difficult  nature  of  the  case  on  the  other, 
that  there  is  no  knowing  to  what  extrem 
ities  matters  might  have  gone,  had  not  a 
compromise  been  effected  by  which  Logan 
and  the  wagon-drivers  were  transferred 
into  the  room  occupied  by  the  farmer's 
family,  while  the  Edgartons,  the  sister, 
the  maid,  the  greyhound,  the  pug-dog,  and 
the  parrot,  remained  sole  occupants  of  the 
apartment  prepared  for  them. 


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